


Welcome Aboard

by SeaMonkeysInSpace



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AH Baby AU, Alternate Universe - High School, Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Murder, Baby lads, Big Brother Ryan, Child Abandonment, Dad Gents, Dad Geoff, FAHC, Fake AH Crew, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Pre FAHC, Teenage AU, baby au, fem!Jack, hacker ryan, mom jack, not from Jack and Geoff but trigger warning ntl, teenage ryan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:12:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 40,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13708002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaMonkeysInSpace/pseuds/SeaMonkeysInSpace
Summary: How did Ryan end up working for the Fakes in the first place?Sixteen and alone, Ryan has to fend for himself. It's unfortunate he ends up messing with the wrong people.





	1. Proposition

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Orphan Brigade](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9420128) by [Kellisina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kellisina/pseuds/Kellisina). 



> It's my own take on the AU, so very LOOSELY inspired by the Orphan Brigade. I wrote this while procrastinating homework so forgive me, I know it's short. Feedback is welcome, but this is my first fanfiction so be gentle. If this gets more than like, 10 kudos, I'll add another work to go with this AU.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haker Ryan? More like adorable smol child who we must protec Ryan.

Ryan crouched behind the rusting, metal trash bin, flinching as bullets sparked near his head. He held his gun with both his hands trying to steady his trembling. The shooting began to pitter off and Ryan used the moment to collect his thoughts.

 _Breath. You’re okay. You’re okay. You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out._ He was jarred back to the present as a man wearing kevlar body armor and heavy combat boots rounded the corner. He reached down and grabbed Ryan by the collar of his t-shirt.

“You fucking brat,” he growled, shoving Ryan against the wall of the alley. “You thought that you could steal from us and we wouldn’t fucking track your ass down?”

Ryan tried to force his gun to point at his assailant, but the older man just smirked and twisted Ryan’s arm back, forcing him to drop the pistol and cry out in pain.

“You’re in way over your head. There are only two ways to get out this. You tell us where the fuck the money is and we kill you quickly. If you don’t, we’ll force it out of you, and your death will be much less painless.”

Ryan sneered at the man and launched a glob of saliva into his face. The man stared in shock, then a bone-chilling smirk came across his face. “Message received, asshole.”

Pulling back his arm, the man prepared to slam his fist into Ryan’s jaw. The sound of a gunshot rang throughout the alley, and the man jerked back, yanking Ryan in front of him to act as a human shield. One arm pointing a gun down the alley and the other wrapped tightly around Ryan’s neck, the man let out a small gasp.

“What the hell are you doing here, Pattillo?”

Ryan’s vision began to blur, and he didn’t hear the response given by the other individual in the alley.

The man holding Ryan to his chest let out a curt laugh and sneered, “This doesn’t fucking concern you.”

Ryan clawed at the thick forearm wrapped around his neck. He struggled to find purchase with his feet and a small ringing began filling his ears.

The last sound Ryan heard before his consciousness faded were gunshots.

* * *

Ryan thought he was dead. He really did. He should’ve chosen who he worked for more carefully, but what else was he supposed to do? If all he had was a shitty apartment and a shitty laptop, hacking for gangs that offered good pay seemed like the best route for him to take. It was Los Santos. All things considered, it was safer than getting a job... well anywhere really. Working anywhere that made even a bit of cash was like turning on a giant neon sign that flashed an enticing message for any low ranking robber. He could have aimed for an office job, but who would hire a sixteen-year-old high school dropout? No, all things considered, hacking was the best option. It just sucks he ended up pissing off the wrong people.

When Ryan opened his eyes, he was surprised to find out that death hurt. His head was throbbing and limbs felt as though they were made out of jelly. He turned his head to the side and realized he was lying on a white sofa in an extremely nice apartment. That was the first thing he registered. The second thing were the green eyes of a small child inspecting him intently.

“What the fuck,” Ryan murmured, pushing himself into a sitting position.

“That’s a dollar,” The kid said. Ryan glanced at him, absorbing the fact that this little blond kid was British and demanding money.

“Where am I?” Ryan asked then, thinking better of it, followed up with another question. “Where are your parents?”

“Dead.”

The boy’s deadpan answer took Ryan by surprise. The bright smile that followed sent shivers down his spine.

“So... uh,” Ryan stammered. “Who do you live with?”

“My brothers and Jack and Geoff.”

“Jack and Geoff? Who are you talking about?”

“You must be new if you don’t know who we are.” A female voice responded and Ryan turned to catch sight of a tall, red-headed woman enter the room.

“Gavin, can you give us a moment please?”

“Okay Jack,” the young British kid grinned. “But don’t forget that he owes a dollar to the swear jar.”

Unwillingly, Ryan blushed under the scrutiny of the child.

“Thank you for letting me know, kiddo. Now, go play with your brothers.”

The blond skipped out of the room, waving to a barely conscious Ryan. The woman, Jack, sat opposite of Ryan and offered him a glass of water. Ryan accepted the glass but set it down on the coffee table suspiciously. Jack raised her eyebrow but didn’t challenge his decision.

“Let’s start with the basics,” Jack said. “Name?”

“Nick,” Ryan lied.

“Where are you originally from?”

“Santa Fe.”

“How exactly did you end up in that alley? Why were those guys after you?”

“They wanted to mug me. I was carrying a pretty pricey watch on me. I guess I was just an easy, stupid target.”

Jack nodded and pulled out her phone. Ryan waited in uncomfortable silence as she swiped across her screen.

“James Haywood.” Ryan froze as Jack used not only his real name but his full name. “Originally from Georgia. Reported missing September of last year. Around the same time, a new hacker appeared in Los Santos. Goes by the name the Mad King. Established himself pretty quickly considering how many hackers live in Los Santos.” Jack placed her phone on the coffee table and leaned forward in her chair. “Some people may consider a hacker who becomes this popular in that amount of time is becoming too big for his britches.”

Ryan bolted. He sprinted to the front door of the apartment and threw it open. He came face to face with a Caucasian man with thick black hair and a well-kept beard to match. The man looked just a surprised as Ryan with keys in his hand hovering, as though he was preparing to unlock the door. Ryan shoved past the dark haired man sprinting down the hall.

“Hey wait!” The man shouted. The hall was lavish with an intricate wooden banner circling around the center of the hall. Ryan ran towards the stairs but, before he could get too far, he was tackled around his waist. Attempting to shake off his captor, more weight landed on his back and hands pinned down his ankles.

“Get the hell off me!” Ryan shouted.

“That’s a dollar,” A familiar British voice laughed. This time, however, it was joined by a few more childlike voices reiterating the same phrase.

Ryan dragged himself across the carpeted hall trying to shake off the small bodies that were holding him down. He hated the fact that they were kids, and tried his best not to use too much force for fear of hurting them.

White tennis shoes appeared in front of him and Ryan turned up to make eye contact with Jack.

“That’s enough boys.” The weight on his around his waist and ankles alleviated, but the pressure on his back remained. “Jeremy,” Jack said in a warning, but motherly voice. Ryan stood as the last of the weight was removed.

He turned to see three kids that looked to range from six to nine staring at him with rapt attention. He recognized Gavin joined by two new kids, the youngest with brown eyes and thick brown hair and the oldest one, with brown curls and black-rimmed glasses. He glanced back at Jack before making a motion to leap over the banister, his only feasible method of escape. Jack, identifying his plan quickly, caught his shirt and dragged him back.

“Chill out kid,” the dark-haired man moved forward to face Ryan. “We’re not going to kill you.”

“Bull shit.”

“Mad King,” Gavin gasped. “You’re up to three whole dollars now.”

Ryan glared at the kid who just smiled in response. “If you aren’t going to kill me, you’re going to torture me. Neither seem like very good options.”

“Why would I save you just to kill you?” Jack asked.

“Good point. Torture then.”

“James-”

“Ryan,” Ryan cut off the dark-haired man to correct him.

“Ryan. We don’t want to hurt you. We just have a job proposition for you.”

Ryan glanced down at the kids that stood between him and the older man. The youngest one shied away from his gaze and the older brunet moved in front of the other two, protectively. He glanced back at Jack who offered him an apologetic smile while maintaining her tight hold on the back of his shirt. He turned his attention back to the other man and sighed.

“What kind of proposition?”

The bearded man smiled and extended a hand to Ryan. “Geoff Ramsey. Nice to meet you kid.”


	2. Gnomeo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan the male model guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering I joked about continuing after getting 10 kudos and actually getting 10 kudos within an hour, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to continue.

“This is stupid,” Ryan yelled through the bathroom door. 

“It’s not stupid,” Geoff snapped back. “It’s fucking necessary.” 

“I look like a gnome.”

“A, that’s the point and B, you don’t even really look like a gnome.”

Ryan emerged from the bathroom dressed in a striped polo shirt and a ridiculous yellow and red knit hat. “I hate this.”

“Sucks for you, buddy.”

“You don’t even look that  _ old _ , Geoff. You could still totally pull this off.” Ryan’s last-ditch attempt to bail was met only with a scrutinizing glare. 

It had been a little over a month since Ryan was hired by Jack and Geoff. They paid him well and never made him do anything he didn’t feel comfortable doing. That is, until now. 

“I’m a hacker, dammit. I’m not built to walk a damn  _ runway _ .”

“You’ve known about this plan for nearly a week. Why didn’t you get all your complaining out then?”

“You didn’t tell me what the plan was until today!”

“YES WE DID, MORON! Jack and I were constantly reminding you about the plan!”

“WELL, I WASN’T LISTENING!”

Geoff scrubbed a hand over his face. He should have known that working with a teenager would be no easy feat, no matter how talented that teenager seemed to be. “Do you at least know what the plan is?”

“Of course I do. I’m not an idiot,” the kid rolled his eyes as though it should be obvious. 

“You literally just said you weren’t listening.”

“Yeah, when you first told me. I was listening  _ today _ .”

“Ryan?”

“Geoff.”

“I fucking hate you.”

* * *

When Ryan agreed to work with Jack and Geoff, part of the reason was that they offered him a place to stay. His room in the penthouse was bare so far, with only dirty clothes and new computer parts decorating the space.

When Ryan entered his room, he saw three small bodies huddled around his laptop, shrouded in darkness.

“Go left up here,” the oldest of the three, Michael, said to the Brit in charge of the mouse. 

Jeremy sat behind the two, cradling a Voltorb plushie and snickering at the bickering of the older boys.

“Micool,” Gavin whined, “let’s go outside.”

“We need to find the page in here!”

“But  _ He’s  _ in here.”

“Who’s in where?” Ryan interrupted and all three of the boys jumped. 

Michael let out a relieved breath and turned back to the screen. “Ryan,” he said. “You scared the shit out of us.”

“Micool,” Gavin patronized. “Don’t curse. You’ll owe a dollar.”

“Shut the fuck up Gavin. Let’s just continue.”

Ryan frowned and flicked on the light. The lads blinked at the sudden brightness and Michael glared at him. “What are you doing?” Michael sneered.

“This is my room. And my computer. What are  _ you _ doing?”

“ _ You _ ,” Michael mocked. “Why do you say it like that?  _ You _ .” 

“We’re playing Slender Man,” Jeremy explained. “Well, they’re playing Slender Man. I’m guarding.”

“Guarding? Really?”

Jeremy nodded vigorously and Ryan couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto his face. 

“ _ Come on! _ ” Michael snapped as Gavin let out a set of nervous giggles.

“How did you guys download Slender Man on my laptop?” Ryan inquired, fearing the answer.

“The Internet,” Gavin replied.

“But how did you pay for it?”

Gavin shrugged. “It was free.”

Ryan sighed and sent out a silent prayer that the Lads hadn’t downloaded a virus onto his computer. He moved to the closet and began to gather what he would need for the job tonight. He couldn’t carry much considering he might be walking a fucking runway later. An M16 strapped to his back wouldn’t exactly be inconspicuous. 

The lads let out screams in varying levels of earpeircingness. Ryan rolled his eyes and continued to sift through his weaponry. He froze when he felt a small tug on his pants. Glancing down, he saw that Jeremy had slipped off the bed and came to bury his face in Ryan’s leg. Ryan slowly pulled out his phone to take a photo that came out blurry and too dark, but he didn’t really mind. Still adorable.

Straightening up, Ryan gave Jeremy a reassuring pat on the head and led him back to the bed. Sitting on the edge, and plucking the computer out of Michael and Gavin’s grasp, he loaded his Steam account.

“Maybe you guys should play something a little less terrifying.”

* * *

Ryan shifted awkwardly from foot to foot as swarms of beautiful young adults moved around him. He winced as his earpiece crackled to life and Geoff’s voice came through.

“Ryan, I can see you on the security cameras. Is there any way you could try and look a little less awkward?”

Ryan glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room and shrugged apologetically. 

“Right. Do you at least see the target?”

Scanning the crowd again, Ryan scratched the back of his head. The signal meaning no. 

“You’re going to have to walk around a little, bud. You’re not going to find him as a stationary object.”

As if the universe was just trying to spite Geoff, a man with red hair hanging over his eye and wearing a white jacket saddled up next to Ryan. 

“I haven’t seen you around, dove.”

“Actually,” Ryan managed to squeeze out once he recovered from his shock, “I think I’m supposed to be a gnome.”

The man laughed and offered a blacked gloved hand for Ryan to shake. “Roman,” he introduced himself.

“Alex,” Ryan replied.

“Alexander,” Roman said, unnecessarily lengthening Ryan’s fake name. “Would you like to get out of here? This party is a bit too stuffy for me.”

Ryan blushed, reminding himself that he had a mission to do. Getting out of the party was the first step and Roman was offering the perfect opportunity to do so. Roman was expecting a model who was at least eighteen so the proposition wasn’t  _ that _ weird. Okay, it was a little weird. But that had more to do with a mental block, not the situation itself. 

So Ryan pulled himself together and offered Roman the cutest smile he could muster. 

“I would love to, Roman.”

As Ryan was led away from the party, he heard Geoff mutter with annoyance in his ear. “Mother fucker... I can’t believe this worked out so well.

* * *

All things considered, Ryan should have been suspicious. Or at least Geoff should have. Ryan was dressed as a  _ gnome _ for God’s sake. He was surrounded by beautiful, professional models. He should have had to approach Roman. Not the other way around. But when Roman led Ryan out to the parking lot he wasn’t as on guard as he should have been. He didn’t pay mind the sound of opening van doors behind him. But when a hand pressed a cloth to his mouth and yanked him backward, Ryan could at least say he wasn’t completely surprised. His earpiece was roughly pulled out of his ear and the van doors closed, cutting off Roman’s bored expression from Ryan’s line of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I ever decided to discontinue this fic, I promise I'll try my best to wrap up any loose ends.


	3. Betty White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when Ryan's sarcasm doesn't actually help his situation.

“I FUCKED UP!”

Jack pulled the phone slightly away from her ear at Geoff’s screaming. “Geoff calm down. What are you talking about?”

“The kid got got.”

Jack was silent for a few beat before saying and an icy tone, “What?”

“He left the building with Torchwick. It _was_ going fine but he just disappeared.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN DISAPPEARED, GEOFF?” Jack glanced down the hall realizing that she needed to be quieter. The kids were sleeping. “People don’t just disappear.”

“I’m telling you, he was taken! I feel like fucking Liam Neeson!”

“Geoff, you were supposed to be watching him! His first mission and you let him get kidnapped?”

“Hey, I didn’t _let_ him do anything! Meet me at the mansion. I’m tracking the van through the cameras right now, but we need to go. I can’t follow the cameras, work on tracking down his phone, _and_ drive by myself.”

“Who’s going to watch the kids, Geoff?”

“They’re old enough to stay home alone!”

“If Ryan got kidnapped, I don’t want to take any chances.” Jack crossed her arms over her chest, anxiously bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Just bring them with us, then. WE DON’T HAVE TIME.”

“We can’t just bring the kids to a fucking shootout!”

“Jack. We. Have. To. _Go_.”

Sighing, Jack took a breath. “Okay. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

* * *

 Ryan was really fucking tired of waking up in strange places. However, waking up in the penthouse was a lot nicer than waking up in the dark basement that he was currently in. Ryan took in his surroundings. Arms bound over his head, hanging from a thick chain attached to the ceiling. His toes brushed the ground, but just barely. A thick metal door guarded by a man wearing a black suit and red sunglasses. One way in, one way out.

Ryan tested his binds, drawing the attention of the guard.

“Hey,” Ryan smiled. “Can you uh, can you do me a favor and let me down from here?”

The guard pushed himself off the wall and left the room, leaving Ryan hanging.

Ryan twisted around, searching for any other objects in the painfully barren room. He glanced up and wrapped the chain around his forearm and wrists. Straining, Ryan pulled himself upwards, hoping the binding would loosen enough he could slip out.

The sound of the door creaking open caught Ryan’s attention and he lowered himself to the ground again.

Roman walked into the room, dressed exactly like he was at the party, but with the addition of a cane and bowler hat. Ryan glared at the man, ignoring the guards that came into the small room after Roman. Roman smirked and tilted Ryan’s head up by the chin.

“Come now, Mad King,” he purred. “No need to look so upset. You brought this upon yourself.”

Ryan snapped at Roman’s hand. Instead of pulling his hand away like Ryan expected, Roman just tightened his grip and, with minimal effort, lifted Ryan off the ground.

With his other hand, Roman took a phone - _Ryan’s_ phone- that had an odd blinking extension from one of the ports. He swiped across the screen casually and pulled up a photo.

“Who’s this little guy?” Roman asked, turning the screen to face Ryan. The picture of Jeremy clutching Ryan’s leg was pulled up on the screen and Ryan had to work to school his expression. He tried his best to look unimpressed, raising an eyebrow at Roman.

“Mad King please,” Roman sighed. “I kind of need you to break down and tell me all you know.”

“Tiger sharks fight each other in the womb.”

Roman frowned and looked genuinely shocked.

“Wha- What are you talking-”

“Betty White is older than sliced bread.”

“Stop-”

“Alfred once beat up Super-”

Roman moved his hand from Ryan’s chin to his throat. “I know you’re working for Ramsey. I need to know what he knows about me and how much you know about him.

Ryan furrowed his brows as if he was deep in thought. “Hm... I think I’ll pass on that. Thanks though.”

Roman released Ryan and took a step back.

“Thanks for your cooperation, Mad King,” he chuckled. “Or lack thereof. Felix was excited to finally get to interrogate someone again, and I very much didn’t want to disappoint him.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you brought the kids with you.”

“You _told_ me to bring them with me.”

“I told you to leave them at home.”

“And I told you, that’s not happening.”

“God this is such a bad fucking idea.”

“We could drop them off at Burnie’s if you’re so worried.”

“Again, no time.”

Jack resisted the urge to pound her head against the steering wheel. Geoff got so disagreeable when he was worried. She glanced in the rearview mirror at the kids. Jeremy was sleeping, resting his head against Michael, Michael was occupied with his DS and Gavin was staring out the window, watching the road race by. Jack sighed, calming her mind and slipping her filter back into place.

“Geoff,” She began. “Ryan’s going to be okay. He’s a big boy. He can handle himself.”

“That’s just the thing, Jack. Ryan’s not a big boy. He’s a sixteen-year-old kid who got himself caught up in our bull shit.”

Jack reached out and placed her hand on Geoff’s knee, rubbing soothing circles with her thumb in hopes to calm him down a bit. “Any luck tracking his phone?”

Geoff shrugged. “Kind of? The signal cuts out here so I’m guessing there’s something blocking it. That means we at least know where the facility is, but we don’t know where Ryan is in the building and we have no plan on how to infiltrate it.”

“We could knock out a few of the workers. Disguises would work for a while.”

“Yeah but that’s assuming there will be people wandering in few enough numbers that we could take them. Not to mention, I doubt your everyday guard has clearance high enough to see a fucking prisoner. It’s too flawed.”

“Well, we can’t go in there gun a’ blazing.”

“Yeah thanks, Sherlock.”

“What if we get Burnie to cause a distraction. If Torchwick took Ryan, he’s probably expecting to learn more about us. If we do something to draw his attention or get Burnie to pose as us to get his attention, maybe the major players will leave to investigate.”

“But we don’t know who all the major players are. And that doesn’t help us when trying to get past the guards or locating where they’re keeping Ryan.”

Jack was silent, trying to think of a plan that would work. She shouldn’t have let Geoff and Ryan go without backup. She shouldn’t have taken Geoff’s word for having the entire situation figured out. And she _definitely_ shouldn't have brought the kids. What was she thinking? There’s no way they would be safer out here with them than at home in their beds.

Geoff shook his head in defeat. “I can’t think of anything, Jack. What are we going to do?”

Before Jack could respond with comforting words, a voice piped up from the back.

“If I may,” Gavin began, a twinkle in his eyes. “I think I might have an idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support this fic is receiving! I enjoy writing these in my spare time and you Kudos and comments motivate me to write more. This arc is going to come to a close in the next few chapters, so feel free to send me prompts on Tumblr @SeaMonkeysInSpace. You can also message me if you just want to talk!


	4. Gavin Pulls a Gavin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an actually kind of smart plan goes to shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 11:57 where I am. I said on Tumblr I might post part 4 later today and, as far as I'm concerned, I stuck to that promise.

Felix was not a fun guy. He was cocky, sarcastic, and clearly enjoyed what he was doing. Ryan noted the fact that he was, apparently, a fan of blades. Small blades, large blades, all with the same goal of making Ryan bleed.

* * *

 

The signal to Ryan’s phone cut out only a little ways from the actual building. Jack parked the car, concealing it among bushes, before joining the boys in searching for the site. Geoff led the way, Jack bringing up the rear, and Michael helping the younger boys in the middle stay quiet. Eventually, they came upon a large clearing. The building wasn’t what either of the two adults expected. Jack was expecting a to see more of a facility. High tech, clinical, equipped with at least higher level security. Instead, they came across a pretty simple farmhouse, wood painted a gentle blue and white, men and women wearing dark suits milling around the lawn.

“What the hell?” Geoff muttered. 

Jack exchanged a slightly confused look with him and shrugged. “I guess we were overestimating what kind of facility Torchwick would have access to.”  

Geoff shook his head, “It must just be a safe house or something. I wonder why they didn’t move Ryan to a more secure location.”

“They probably just wanted to confirm he wasn’t being tracked. The last thing they would want to do is lead someone to one of their major bases of operations.”

“Maybe...” Geoff trailed off, a thoughtful look plastered on his face.

Jack gently nudged him to bring Geoff out of his thoughts. “Hey,” she said, “It doesn’t matter. I know you’re thinking about Torchwick and the mission. But that can all come later. Finishing the mission can come later. Right now, we have to get Ryan out of there. Burnie will understand.”

Geoff nodded -a frown still on his face- and the group moved to a better position. 

Jack checked the clip on her silenced pistol and looked down at Gavin and Michael with concern. “You both need to be extremely careful. Do you understand me?”

“Jack, don’t underestimate us,” Michael smirked. 

Jack glanced behind her at a half-awake Jeremy and he blinked blearily back. “Michael’s right,” he said, even though Jack was pretty sure he hadn’t been listening. She sighed and looked back at the two older children.

“Are you ready boi?” Gavin asked, and Michael nodded in confirmation.

Gavin crept around the edge of the clearing, with Geoff following before disappearing from sight. Michael gathered a few heavy stones that he could find, before waiting for Gavin’s signal. 

A noise that sounded like a strangled bird came from the edge of the clearing, around the side of the barn. Michael grinned and glanced up at Jack. She checked back on Jeremy, who was doodling in the dirt with a stick. 

Sighing again, Jack glanced back at Michael and said, “Be careful.”

Gathering the rocks in his arms, Michael emerged into the clearing and straightened up once he was a decent distance away from Jack. 

The plan was, Michael would lob stones at the windows and side of the building, causing enough mayhem that Gavin and Geoff could initiate, what Gavin fondly dubbed, Plan G. While the guards were distracted with detaining Michael, Gavin would cause a need to evacuate the building, while Geoff covered him. Gavin figured that either the people inside the building would try and move Ryan or, leave him in there to die, likely unguarded. Meanwhile, Michael would lure any guards who were after him to Jack, who was lying in wait with a silenced pistol. 

That was how the plan was  _ supposed  _ to go. Jack didn’t expect the guards, who Michael caught the attention of, to pull out their weapons and take aim at the nine-year-old.

Jack reacted quickly, taking out the most threatening guard first, before dropping three more bodies that were occupying the space of the front lawn. She didn’t give herself long to think about how the plan was going to hell. She just rushed forward, dragging the bodies around the side of the house, hoping they wouldn’t be too obvious. Michael tried to help, slowly inching a body to cover before Jeremy came out of hiding and attempted to assist Michael with his task.

Jack sprinted back to the front of the and just began to remove the body of a young, female guard before she heard shouting coming from inside the house. Cursing, Jack shoved Michael and Jeremy behind her, preparing for a fight. However, rather than hearing shouts of murder coming from inside the house, she heard a different kind of panic. 

“Fire!”

* * *

Ryan wasn’t having fun. He was having the opposite of fun. His situation was literal torture.

The lacerations that ran across his torso and chest were deep, but not deep enough to make him bleed too heavily. Ryan knew that Felix wasn’t one to use mind tricks to pull information out of people. He caused his victims pain to a point where they’d say anything to experience the sweet release of death.

But it hadn’t been that long. Ryan knew that Felix was just getting started, but he also knew that he could hold out just a bit more time.

Somewhere, deep down, he knew Jack and Geoff were coming for him. He hadn’t known the pair for that long and tried his best to resist the urge to trust them, but he knew they were coming. If not for him, then the information he had about them.

Felix asked mostly about Jack and Geoff. What their relationship was, where their base was located, who their allies were; but he also asked about a lot about people Ryan didn’t know much about. A man named Burnie Burns came up frequently as well as a few other names like Miles Luna, James Willems, and Aleksandr Marchant. 

Ryan tried his best to appear to know the same amount about each question, while still refusing to answer. After over an hour of this back and forth, Felix laced his hands above his head and stretched. 

“Listen, Mad King,” he said, releasing his hands and letting his arms fall back to his sides, “I can see I’m getting nowhere with these methods. Maybe I’m taking it a little too soft on you.” Felix picked up a crowbar from the metal cart he had brought in with him. Ryan tried his best to stifle his fear. “So I hope you’re ready to put on your big boy pants and start telling me what I want to know.” Felix stalked towards Ryan, giving the crowbar some casual, experimental swings. “Now, tell me. What is Geoff Ramsey’s relationship to Burnie Burns?”

Ryan sneered at Felix. “Go fuck yourself.”

“Wrong answer,” Felix said in a sing-song voice while swinging the crowbar down towards Ryan’s kneecap. 

Ryan screamed as red-hot pain shot through his leg. His cries were blood-curdling and even after they died down, Ryan couldn’t stop the sobs that followed.

“Oh shut up,” said Felix, unsympathetically. “That’s not even the worst it gets. Besides, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Ryan glared at Felix, not being able to help but feel pathetic and vulnerable in that moment.  

“Are you ready to play nice now?”

Before Ryan could respond, a panicked looking guard rushed into the room. “We have to move, Felix,” She said, sounding slightly out of breath.

“What? Why?”

“The building,” She panted. “It’s on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, house is on fiyahhhhhhhh~  
> It's super on fiyahhahahaahh


	5. Hide and- No. You Know What? Just Hide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papa Geoff

The guard worked on pulling Ryan down from his chains while Felix selected an assortment of knives from his torture cart. As soon as Ryan's arms were released, his feet connected with concrete, hard. The knee which Felix slammed a crowbar into gave out and Ryan screamed, trying to support his body weight on the other leg. The only thing holding him up was the female security guard, and she called out to Felix for support.

"I thought you just said we had to go?" He snapped at her, while roughly slinging Ryan's arm around him. "Why the hell did you take so long to get him down? Why the fuck is there not anyone else who can help you with this?"

"All the others ran off. It's not my fault Torchwick hired so many pussies."

The guard produced a bag from the lining of her jacket. Ryan fought as she roughly pulled it over his head. Felix's grip tightened around his arm, and Ryan let out a small whimper at the painful feeling.

"Stop fighting, dumbass," he hissed. "You're not getting anywhere on that leg of yours. What’s the plan, genius?"

The guard successfully cinched the bag around Ryan's throat and assisted Felix in half carrying, half dragging Ryan out of his prison.

* * *

Jack turned to Michael when she realized Plan G had been successful.

"Take Jeremy back to the car," She instructed the older boy. "Don't get in, but stay close to it. Move quietly, and if you hear anyone coming your way, hide."

Michael didn't look happy with the solution but nodded in understanding. Jeremy, on the other hand, looked surprisingly upset. 

"No!" he shouted. "I want to help save Ryan!"

"Jeremy," Jack said gently, “the most helpful thing you can do right now is stay safe. It wouldn't help Ryan if Geoff and I have to worry about you guys too."

"What about Gavin?" Michael asked. "Shouldn't he be coming too if you guys are worried about us getting in the way?"

"Trust me," Jack said. "Gavin will be fine. We'll meet you back at the car with both him and Ryan safe and sound."

* * *

Geoff watched from a little distance away as the fire crackled, lapping at the dry wood of the house. Gavin's plan worked better than he ever could have hoped, with guards pouring from the front and back doors of the farmhouse. Geoff turned to the young boy and grinned.

"Well done, Gav," he said, ruffling his hair. "That worked better than I thought I would. How did you learn to do that anyway?"

Gavin shrugged, a proud smile pulling at the corners of his lips. "It's a secret."

Geoff hesitated, then shook his head. "Yeah, we'll talk about that later." Geoff glanced back at the burning building and stood. "Gavin," he said, "You see that large tree over there? surrounded by the bushes?" Gavin nodded. "Hide there for now. Stay still. Stay quiet. We'll come back to pick you up once we grab Ryan."

Geoff moved to leave but Gavin grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. Geoff looked down at him to see nothing but fear in his eyes. He frowned, but then the memory hit him. How Geoff found him. What Gavin told them. His expression softened and he crouched down to be eye level with the boy. 

"Listen, Gav," he began, "I swear we will come back. You just need to stay hidden for now. Don't worry," he cupped the child's cheek in his hand, reassuringly. "We'll come back."

* * *

The cool, Los Santos breeze hit Ryan's chest and arms. He felt exposed and continued to struggle against Felix and the female guard.

"Stop. Fighting," Felix grunted. "I swear to God, I will break your other fucking knee if you don't." Speaking to the woman who was gripping Ryan's other arm, he said, "Did you call the driver to pull the van around?"

She made a noise in conformation, and Ryan began to struggle again. 

"That's it, you brat!" Felix growled. He seized Ryan's forearms and shoved him against the exterior of a wooden building. Ryan pulled against the grip and kicked at his captor, but Felix avoided each blow. Ryan couldn't see what was happening, but he imagined Felix was preparing to snap his other kneecap. Ryan squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the pain. 

A gunshot sounded and Ryan flinched. 

"What the fuck?" Felix shouted before Ryan felt his grip release. 

Ryan reacted quickly, yanking the bag off his head while bracing himself against the wall. He blinked against the sudden change in light and the first thing he saw was the female guard lying dead on the ground, a bullet hole carving through her skull. 

* * *

Geoff moved slowly around the back of the house, hoping that Jack would be covering the front. He pressed himself against the wall and glanced around, waiting for any sign of Ryan. Men and women sprinted from the farmhouse and into the thick woods beyond.

He breathed, trying to suppress his nerves. He was worried about his crew. Worried about Jack, worried about his boys, and worried about Ryan. 

At the sound of a struggle, Geoff glanced around the corner again. There, he saw a dark-skinned woman and a man with slicked back brown hair exit. The man could have been a guard but his attire was different, more greaser than professional security. The pair were dragging a hooded, shirtless young man between them

_ Ryan _ .

He was favoring one leg, and angry, red slashes marred his chest and torso. Geoff felt a fire ignite in the pit of his stomach at the sight. He straightened up and cocked his gun, preparing the get Ryan back.

"That's it, you brat!" Greased Lightning snapped, shoving Ryan against the wall. Ryan fought, but the older man's grip was strong. The woman rolled her eyes and glanced in Geoff's direction. She caught sight of part of Geoff's body and opened her mouth to raise the alarm to the man next to her. Before she could, Geoff sent a bullet flying straight in between her eyes. 

The other man was raising his foot, looking as though he was about to bring the heavy sole down upon Ryan's knee. He jumped at the sound of gunfire and turned towards Geoff with a fire in his eyes. 

"What the fuck!" He shouted. When he caught sight of Geoff, his eyes widened in shock. He swiftly released Ryan, who pulled himself away from his captor, yanking his hood off over his head. 

The man with the greased back hair still stood frozen, fear written all over his face. 

"Grif..." he whispered. "How- how are you here?"

Geoff tried not to react to his old nickname, but the sound of it shocked him. He shook his head, trying to clear the effect the name had on him. He leveled the gun at the unfamiliar man and fired. The other man ducked to the side, and sprinted away, into the woods.

Geoff lowered his gun and released a breath he hadn’t realized he'd been holding. He jumped slightly when arms wrapped around his midsection. He glanced down, taking in the fact that he was being hugged. He was being hugged by  _ Ryan _ . 

The teenager was trembling, burying his face into Geoff’s shoulder. Once the initial shock disappeared, Geoff let his hand gently card through Ryan’s hair. He felt a warm liquid begin to soak through the front of his shirt and Geoff knew it was blood. 

“You’re okay,” Geoff tried to sooth Ryan. “You’re okay. I’ve got you now.” Ryan tucked his head under Geoff’s chin and Geoff pulled him closer. “You’re okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This arc will be wrapping up with the next chapter. I have a few ideas of what to write about next, but I you have any prompts, comment below or message me on Tumblr!


	6. Deeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is worried and Michael is a teddy bear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are way too many italics in this chapter.

“And what did you tell them?”

“Nothing.”

Ryan sat, curled up on the end of the couch in the penthouse. His wounds were newly dressed and his body felt a bit numb. The slashes across his torso were bandaged, some with stitches zig-zagging across. His wrists were bandaged as well; the chains had rubbed them raw. A thick cast donned his leg. The bruises and cuts that crisscrossed his face were cleaned as well. Jack sat in the chair across from him, giving him an odd sense of Deja Vu from the first time they had met.

~

_ “Ryan,” Geoff pulled the teen away from his body. Ryan averted his gaze, tears staining his cheeks.  _

_ “I want to go home.” _

_ Geoff gave him a gentle smile and rubbed his arm. “I know, buddy. I know.” _

~

“We won't-” Jack sighed. “Ryan, if you told them anything, we won’t blame you. They...” She glanced away, her voice trembling. “They did some pretty horrible things to you.”

~

_ “Are you okay?” Geoff asked. “Can you walk?” _

_ Ryan shrugged. “I can, but it’s hard. Felix broke my kneecap.” _

_ Geoff flinched but nodded. “Okay. Okay.” He slung his arm around Ryan’s waist and helped him limp into the cover of the woods. _

_ ~ _

“Honestly, Jack, if they got anything out of me, I would tell you. I get that you need to know what they know. Honestly, I couldn’t even answer half the questions they asked.”

“I trust you, Rye,” but Jack wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Ryan frowned. “Is there something else?

~

_ “Gav,” Geoff hissed. “Gavin.” _

_ “Geoff?” A relieved voice came from the cover of nearby bushes.  _

_ Gavin began to reveal himself, but Geoff shook his head. “I still have to go find Jack. You and Ryan stay hidden, and we’ll be back for you in a minute.” _

_ Gavin looked pained but nodded. Geoff turned and made his way back to the farmhouse. _

~

“Geoff and I were talking,” Jack began, “and we think you should go.”

~

_ “Ryan you’re bleeding,” Gavin said, as soon as they were safely concealed among the thick shrubs.  _

_ Ryan offered him a weak smile. “It’s fine Gav. ‘Tis just a scratch.” Gavin looked at him blankly and Ryan chuckled. “Remind me to show you  _ Monty Python _ when we get back.  _

~

“Jack, wha-? What are you talking about?”

Jack wiped her eyes and Ryan noticed there were tears in them. “We're worried you're getting too involved. We can set you up somewhere nicer. Somewhere like LA or San Francisco-”

“Are you kidding me?” Ryan yelled. His spine was erect and he was leaning intently forward. “You're trying to get rid of me?”

~

_ Geoff returned with Jack by his side. When the older woman caught sight of Ryan, her expression crumbled and she quickly gathered him into her arms. _

_ “I'm sorry Ryan,” she whispered. “I'm so, so sorry.” _

~

“Ryan!” Jack snapped. “Of course we're not trying to get rid of you. We  _ love  _ you. You're family,” she sighed, rubbing her eyes again. “But you have your whole life ahead of you. It's not safe for you here. You're in way over your head and the last thing Geoff and I want to do is to drag you deeper.”

~

_ Geoff helped Ryan back to where they had stashed the car. Jeremy emerged from his hiding place, sprinting towards the small group. Michael caught his collar before Jeremy could launch himself at Ryan, eying the teen with a mix of suspicion and concern.   _

~

“But what about Gavin and Michael and Jeremy?”

“That’s different.”

“How is that different?” Ryan’s voice began to rise again. “It’s worse! They’re younger than me. They didn’t  _ decide _ to live this kind of life like I did!”

“You don’t know,” Jack whispered. “Their stories, their history, it’s different from yours. This is their best option, but it’s not yours.”

~

_ Jack ushered everyone into the car, allowing Ryan to stretch out in the back seat while the kids braced themselves on the floor of the vehicle. Jack drove back towards the city, headed to the home of Jon Risinger. The car was shrouded in a solemn silence. _

~

Ryan was quiet for a few moments. 

“But I...” he began. “I don’t want to go.”

Jack sighed. “I’ll let you think about it, Rye,” she said, her voice quiet. “You need to consider your options though. If you leave, you’ll be taken care of  _ and _ you’ll be safe. That’s all we want for you. We want you to be safe.”

Ryan frowned. “But you only just met me. Why do you care so much about whether or not I’m safe?”’

“Because,” Jack stood, “you deserve better than this.” She approached Ryan and brushed back his hair, planting a kiss on his forehead. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

* * *

Ryan didn’t sleep well. His wounds were painful to lay on and every time he began to drift off, the sound of the house settling or one of the kids moving around in their room disturbed him from his sleep.

Eventually, he sat up and reached to pull his computer off his desk. His bandages made it a little hard to use the keyboard, but he pushed through, taking down player after player in PUBG. 

He cursed as a firefight didn’t go his way. He stared at the screen blankly as the opposing player looted his body. Ryan leaned back, letting his head rest against the wall. 

He had been kidnapped. Tortured for information. And now, because of that, Jack wanted him to leave. 

_ Why don’t you do it?  _ He asked himself.  _ Just leave? You wouldn’t have a care in the world, freedom to do whatever you’d like. _

The angel on his shoulder -or maybe it was the devil- spoke up.  _ It’s because you don’t want to be alone again. _

Ryan sighed and glanced at the time. The little white numbers in the corner of his computer screen readout 2:34 AM. All of the events of the previous night had happened in less than six hours. His sixteen years of life had almost come to an end in less than six hours. Ryan shuddered at the thought. 

He closed his computer and tossed it to the side, wrapping his arms around his knees and hugging them close to his chest. His breathing was short and panicked, and he struggled to keep it quiet, in case anyone was near his room. 

The door creaked open and Ryan glanced up to see a small figure standing in the doorway. 

“Ryan?” Michael asked.

When Ryan didn’t respond, Michael made his way to the edge of his bed and pulled himself up. He scooted closer to the older boy and pressed their arms together. 

“Jack is just scared, you know?” Michael began. “None of us have ever been taken. Not being able to protect one of their own is literally Jack and Geoff’s worst nightmares.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say. It didn’t feel right, for Michael to be comforting him. But he let it happen.

“You haven’t been with us long, but I know that you’ll get used to it.” Ryan glanced down questioningly at Michael who just shrugged in return. “We’re all here for one reason or another. I’m not a big believer in fate or any junk like that, but I’m willing to make an excuse in this case. Just give it some time.”

Ryan smiled at Michael and Michael smiled back. “I think you mean ‘exception’. Not excuse.”

Michael snorted. “Shut the fuck up, Ryan.”

* * *

Eventually, Ryan fell asleep, Michael curled up at his side.

When he awoke the next morning, he found that all three kids were huddled around him. Gavin and Jeremy must have come in sometime in the night. Ryan felt warmth fill his chest and closed his eyes again, calmed by the steady breathing of the lads. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random Dude: Why is Jon the medic in this-  
> Me: Because I said so, that's why.
> 
> There you have it, lads. The end of arc one. Hope you all enjoyed it!


	7. Hell- er, I mean, High School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had an odd mix of appreciation and disgust for Treyco Malfoy

“Hey Ryan,” Jack called as Ryan entered the living room, “come here for a second.”

Ryan frowned, but approached the sofa, leaning against the back.

Jack smiled up at him and said, “I was just wondering if you had any preference on what classes you want to take this semester.”

Ryan frowned, confused, and then let out rancorous laughter. “Very funny, Jack.”

“I’m not joking.”

Ryan’s eyes widened, and his voice took on a panicked tone. “I feel like you should be! _School?_ I’m a literal criminal, Jack. I can’t spend my days sitting in a classroom.”

“Ryan, it’s important that you get an education. It’s the one thing both me and Geoff agree upon. The boys will be starting up soon too.”

Ryan thought back and realized he had come to Jack and Geoff in the summer.

And now summer was ending.

However, the idea of school hadn’t ever been brought up before.

“Isn’t it a little late to register for school?”

“You’re already registered in LS High School.”

“Jack,” Ryan’s voice was rising, “why didn’t you tell me? This is bull shit!”

“Ryan-”

“It is though! I don’t have time to attend classes and work on heists and missions. Besides, what if I get caught on camera and they trace me back to my school? Also, I skipped an entire year when I ran a- I mean, when I left home.”

Jack looked up at the ceiling in a calculating fashion. “You don’t have to attend every day, but we will make time so heists don’t interfere too badly with your education-”

“That’s not how school works.”

A small smile played on Jack’s lips. “Geoff has deep pockets and money talks. As for your identity, we’ll have bigger problems than you being a school outcast if you get caught. Gangs you pissed off and the cops will be up our asses before you can blink. As for the missed year, we forged your credits when we enrolled you. By the way, you are no longer James Haywood. You are simply Ryan Ramsey. I voted for Ryan Pattillo but Geoff posed the argument of alliteration.”

“Can’t I just take online school?”

“Do you have friends your age in this city.”

“No.”

“Then no.”

* * *

Somehow, using her witchcraft, Jack convinced Ryan to attend LSHS. That meant, glory be, back to school shopping. Jack’s witchcraft continued when Ryan was informed he would be taking all three of the lads back-to-school shopping.

“Ryan,” Gavin whined, “you can’t buy those jeans, Ryan.”

“What? Why not?”

“They’re dad jeans,” Michael cut in. “ You’ll look like a dad.”

“Wow. Thanks for that clarification.” Ryan tossed the jeans back on the pile and glanced around the store. The lads were piling the shopping cart high with graphic t-shirts and pants, (Gavin with a weird sort of affection for pastel shorts).

Gavin presented Ryan with some ripped jeans, he claimed were “trendy”.

“Sorry,” Ryan said, “I’m not in the market for a 21 pilots aesthetic.” Ryan handed the jeans back to the dejected lad.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Jeremy piped up.

Ryan blinked and looked down at the youngest lad. He hadn’t realized he was so deep in thought that he was frowning.

Ryan snorted at the use of the word “buddy” and ruffled Jeremy’s hair. “This is just kind of weird. It all feels so mundane.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, I’m out here preparing to go back to school instead of running from the cops or setting a building on fire or _something_. I don’t know Lil’ J. It just is a bit unsettling for me.”

“I think,” Gavin interrupted, “he was asking what mundane means.”

* * *

Ryan arrived at school a week later, a new backpack filled to the seams with textbooks, notebooks, and binders. He glanced at his schedule, looking questioningly around the hallway filled with masses of students talking to their friends or wading through the sea of teens.

“Dude, you’re in the middle of the hall.” Ryan turned to see two boys trying to get around him. They looked oddly similar, one with bleached blond hair and dark eyes, the other with a darker complexion and black hair. They were both gawky, wearing long-sleeved black shirts, and doning slight, carefree smiles.

“Oh, sorry,” Ryan began. “I’m just trying- I’m kind of-” he huffed in frustration. “I’m new here and I don’t know where the hell I’m going.”

The blond laughed. “It’s cool, man. We just couldn’t get around you.”

The boy with the dark hair glanced over the top edge of Ryan’s schedule. “Do you need help finding your locker?”

“I mean... it would be nice. You don’t have to though.”

“Nah. We are in no hurry to get to class _early_.”

“Don’t fucking speak for me,” the blond deadpanned and the dark haired one just snorted in response.

“I’m Alfredo, by the way,” the dark-haired one said, extending a hand to Ryan. “This guy is Draco.”

“How dare you,” the blond said in mock offense. “Deleted. Blocked. Reported.”

“I’m Ryan,” Ryan said, smiling. He shook Alfredo’s hand, then turned to not-Draco.

“Trevor,” he said, shaking Ryan’s hand. “My nickname is Treyco, and ever since I dyed my hair, some people,” he said, glaring pointedly at Alfredo, “decided to try and be funny.”

“Blame the pun queen.”

“Trust me, I do.”

* * *

Trevor and Alfredo led Ryan to his locker and directed him to his first class. When they saw he had physics with Mr. Sorola, they hissed in sympathy. They offered him words of encouragement such as “rip” and “is it too late for you to drop his class?”

Ryan moved into the room, seeing that everyone was huddled around a sheet of paper on the frontmost lab table. The teacher wasn’t there yet, but he already had a seating chart prepared.

Ryan located his seat on the paper and made his way to his table.

“It looks like we’re table buddies for the unit,” Ryan said awkwardly, pulling out the chair next to a grey-haired boy.

“Looks like,” he sighed, not taking his eyes off his phone.

Ryan shifted awkwardly in his seat and pulled out his notebook from his bag. He scrawled his faux name across the front in sloppy permanent marker.

When he glanced back up, he saw the grey-haired boy eyeing the writing with interest.

“Ramsey, huh?”

Ryan nodded and the boy smiled.

“My names Mercury. It’s nice to meet you, _table buddy_.” Mercury’s expression was cold, and deeply unsettled Ryan. “How’s your first day going so far?”

Ryan shrugged. “School’s kind of boring, you know?”

“Trust me,” Mercury said, “things are about to get a whole lot more interesting.”

* * *

“Michael, let me see what you have,” a teacher called as she watched the curly haired boy chase his squawking brother around the playground.

“A knife!”

“NO!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ask me about my favorite vine.
> 
> Random dude: If Trevor is only a year older than Jeremy, then why is he around the same age as Ry-  
> Me: BECAUSE I SAID SO!  
> Also me: And, Alfredo and Trevor were teenagers in Orphan Brigade's AU too.


	8. The Birds and the Bees (No, No One is Getting the Talk... Yet)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best ship is friendship

The next time Ryan saw Alfredo, the other boy explained to Ryan that they absolutely could not eat in the cafeteria today because there were half price burgers at some chain restaurant. That’s how he found himself riding shotgun in Alfredo’s beat-up van while Trevor and his girlfriend, Barbara, sat in the back.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and Ryan pulled it out an glanced at the screen. It was a message from Gavin that read, “ **I’m bored :^{** ”.

Ryan snorted and texted back, “ **Put your phone away and go to class** ”

“Who’s that?” Alfredo asked. “Your _girlfriend_?”

Ryan let out a bark of laughter. “Nah. It’s just me myself and I.”

“So you’re forever alone,” Trevor nodded seriously. “Like Alfredo.”

“Fuck you, Malfoy. I have a girlfriend,” Alfredo began to blush. “I already told you, she just doesn’t go to our school.”

“Sure sure. Of course. How can I possibly doubt you, Alfredo? No way this girl is totally fake.”

“Fuck off.”

“So, Ryan,” Barbara cut in. “If you aren’t texting your significant other, who are you texting?”

“Just my little brother. I didn’t even realize they would let him have his phone at school.”

“How many siblings do you have?” Alfredo asked.

“Three. They all go to Upper Isle Elementary.”

“Oh?” Barbara asked. “My sister goes there.”

“Really?” Ryan asked turning in his seat to see Barbara more clearly.

“Yeah. I guess that makes sense though. Our parents _are_ in the same business after all.”

Ryan froze. Barbara stared him down, smiling kindly, but with hard eyes.

Trevor and Alfredo continued arguing about something that didn’t matter, and Ryan did eventually turn to face away from Barbara, but something settled in the pit of his stomach. 

* * *

 

“You seriously need to chill out,” Barbara’s voice came from behind Ryan. He jumped slightly but tried to school his expression so she wouldn’t see his surprise.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The group realized they would have to get take out if they wanted to get back in time for fifth period and Ryan opted to order for all of them so everyone else could wait in the car. Barbara, it seemed, chose to disregard the plan.

“I said our parents are in the same business. I think you just kind of assumed that meant I was from an enemy gang.”

“Still have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“I think the dumbest thing about this whole situation is the fact that you changed your last name to Ramsey. You might as well be wearing a t-shirt that reads ‘what’s up ya fucking cunts. Did you know I’m related to one of the biggest crime bosses in Los Santos?’”

Ryan whipped around and hissed, “Can you keep your fucking voice down?”

Barbara just scoffed. “Take a pill. No one here is listening to us.”

“As far as you know.”

“Trust me, I know.”

Ryan sighed. “Fine. You caught me. Now what?”

Barbara actually looked a little surprised. “What do you mean? You make it sound like I’m going to blackmail you or something.”

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re going to do.”

“Ryan, I’m Burnie’s kid. I just want to be friends with you.” Barbara shook her head. “We’re in the same situation. We have to look out for each other.”

Ryan met Barbara’s sincere, blue eyes. “But- I thought your last name was Dunkleman.”

“That’s because my fake name isn’t completely stupid.”

“Let’s agree to disagree.”

* * *

 

Ryan and Barbara ended up exchanging numbers. Barbara explained that if Ryan never needed anyone to talk to or some backup, she’d be available. Ryan would have asked more about Burnie and the relationship between him and Geoff but decided to hold off. He needed to get to know her better.

As he walked down the streets of Los Santos, he smiled to himself. As far as being the new kid at a new school goes, his first day had been fairly successful. Classes were boring but not disastrous, Mr. Sorola was eccentric, but in a way that made Ryan appreciate his enthusiasm, and he already had made three new friends.

Yep, definitely could have gone worse.

When he finally got to the gates of Upper Isle, he was still fifteen minutes early, so he leaned against the concrete pillar, pulled out his phone and started playing a puzzle game.

“Long time, no see.” Ryan looked up to see Barbara, hands in her pockets and head held high, walking towards him.

“Dunkleman? Whatcha doing here?”

“I wasn’t lying earlier when I told you my little sister goes here.” Barbara leaned against the pillar beside Ryan. “I’m here to pick her up.” She glanced at Ryan’s phone and moved one of the blocks on his screen.

“Hey!”

Barbara laughed and stuck her tongue out at Ryan.

They stood there in a companionable silence until the bell rung, releasing a wave of grade schoolers from the building.

Gavin came sprinting towards Ryan and launched himself upwards, trusting the older boy to catch him. Ryan stumbled back a few steps but remained upright. Gavin giggled with glee and adjusted himself to stay wrapped around Ryan.

He turned to face Barbara and said, “Oh. Hey Barb.”

“Sup Gavvers.”

Ryan looked between the two, confusion creasing his brow. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Gavin nodded. “Oh yeah. Barb comes over loads to babysit and junk.”

Ryan glared at Barbara and she shrugged in response. “What? You never asked.”

That begged a new question in Ryan’s mind. “Wait, Gavin, how long have you been-”

He was interrupted by Jeremy bounding up to them with excited shouts of both Ryan and Barbara’s names.

“Ryan!” He yelled, tugging on Ryan’s hand. “Ryan, guess what I did today.”

“What did you do today, Lil’ J?”

“Today, I practiced reading and misses Glynda said that I was doing really well. She said I was way more above my reading level than expected! Also, in art, I gotta play with clay. My teacher said that we would have to wait until the furnace made the clay hard then we could paint them and bring them home. Want to know what I made Ryan?”

“What did you make, Jeremy?”

“I made a monster truck! Do you know what else? Today-”

“Oh my god,” Barbara’s voice interrupted Jeremy. She tugged on Ryan’s sleeve. “Do you see how cute that is?”

Ryan looked to where she was gesturing and saw what she saw. “Oh my god.” He immediately went for his phone to snap a photo of Michael and a little-redheaded girl holding hands.

Barbara smiled and called out, “Lindsay, I didn’t know had a boyfriend.”

Lindsay smiled brightly back and Michael glanced away, blush painting against his cheeks.

“Lindsay and Michael sitting in a tree,” Gavin began, still hanging around Ryan’s neck. “K-I-S-S-”

“Shut the fuck up, Gavin,” Michael snapped.

“Language, Michael,” Ryan warned, but he was smiling while he did so.

Barbara offered Ryan and the boys a ride home, but Ryan declined, explaining there wouldn’t be enough room.

“I guess you’re right,” she said. “Well, then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Before the boys could depart, Michael shyly gave Lindsay a kiss on her cheek summoning a collective “awe” from the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If y’alls guys are wondering about the Burn’s family, I based it off Ruby’s family from RWBY. Lindsay and Barbara are half sisters who fall under the care of their mutual father, Burnie.


	9. Warning: Blood and Bad Assery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lovely day for a bit of murder

As the boys were walking home, Jeremy was oddly quiet. 

“What’s wrong, bud,” Ryan asked, a mixture of confused and concerned.

Jeremy shrugged. “Nothing.”

Ryan thought back, then came to a conclusion. “Is it because you didn’t get to finish telling me about your day?”

Jeremy continued to pout but nodded. 

Ryan laughed a little. “What color did you paint your monster truck.”

Jeremy seemed to light up at the question. “Well, we can’t paint it yet because it needs to dry, but I want to paint it purple and orange.”

Jeremy continued talking about his day, Michael and Gavin were behind them going back and forth about something or other, and Ryan just enjoyed their presence. They were close to home, maybe about two or three blocks away, when their walk was interrupted. 

They were headed down a sidewalk with few people around. It was in an undesirable part of Los Santos, (yes, even Los Santos has undesirable parts of it). It was between downtown and the richer part of Los Santos where there were the schools and the fancy restaurants. This little section of in-between had few stores and was so run down, the only people that inhabited it was runaways and junkies chasing a high. Ryan hadn’t stayed in this exact area when he first arrived in Los Santos, but it was similar to where he had lived for those first few months.

Jeremy had gone off on a tangent about a fictional world he thought of when Ryan jumped at a startled shout that sounded behind him. 

He whipped around to see a man pressing a knife to Michael’s throat. Gavin was staring, wide-eyed at the scene, his eyes meeting Michael’s.

Ryan quickly organized his thoughts and ordered Gavin to his side. The Brit obeyed and Ryan could sense Jeremy’s presence to his left. 

“I would highly suggest,” Ryan began, “that you let him go.”

“And I would highly suggest,” a voice sounded behind him. Ryan moved to turn around but froze when the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his skull. “That you shut the fuck up.”

Gavin let out a small whimper, Jeremy still held on tightly to Ryan, and Michael just looked incredibly pissed off. Ryan raised his arms in surrender and the man standing behind him spoke again. “Nice choice, kid. Now you and the rest of Ramsey’s little fuckers will be coming with us.”

“I think the fuck not,” Michael snarled. The man holding him pressed the knife into his throat harder, drawing forth a scarlet bead. Michael flinched, but his tongue wasn’t tamed. “Kidnapped twice in less than two months. Rye, I’m starting to think that you’re bad luck.”

“Micool...” Gavin sniffed. 

Michael smiled at the younger boy reassuringly, then turned his gaze to Jeremy. “We’ll be fine, guys. When Jack and Geoff find these bitches, well, I think we all know they'll have no choice but to initiate plan epsilon.”

“You talk too much,” the man behind Ryan spoke up. “You could go with talking... a little less.”

Michael’s captor shoved the young boy against the brick wall, drawing a grunt that made Ryan flinch. The young boy kicked and snapped, but was easily overpowered. The man gripped his chin between his fingers and forced his mouth open. When Michael realized what was happening, he began to struggle harder. Gavin and Jeremy let out distressed wails and Ryan shouted with them, begging the criminals to stop. 

The man pressed the knife into the corner of Michael's lip. “Are you going to be a good boy, or are you going to lose your tongue.”

Michael still looked furious but said, “I'll be good.”

The other man nodded and glanced back at his partner. Confusion crossed his face and he muttered, “Dirk... Where are the other two?”

Ryan tore his eyes away from Michael and looked down at Gavin and Jeremy. Only, they weren’t there. 

His eyes flicked from side to side frantically, but it seemed the younger lads had disappeared without a trace. 

“Motherfucker,” The man behind Ryan -Dirk- muttered. “Where the hell did they go?”

“It’s fine,” Michael’s captor snapped. “We still have these two bastards. It’ll be enough.”

The man pulled Michael away from the brick wall. He yelped in surprise as a bony elbow met with his crouch. “Cock knock,” Michael shouted as he broke away from the man’s grasp and slipped his own knife out of the waistband of his pants. 

Michael darted around to his captor’s backside and stabbed into his spine with as much force as he could muster. Ryan watched the man scream out in pain and Michael jump back from the flailing body. 

“Stop you stupid little bitch,” Dirk shouted, grabbing the back of Ryan’s shirt and pressing the gun to his temple so Michael could see the threat more clearly. 

Ryan reacted quickly, throwing his head back so that his skull met the other man’s nose. He danced away from Dirk’s reach and looked back at Michael. The younger boy had managed to down the second kidnapper and stabbed into the side of his neck. Michael pulled his knife towards his body, slitting the man’s throat. He turned to Ryan and Dirk, blood dripping off his knife and splattered across his front. 

He was grinning maniacally and slowly began to approach Dirk. The man took a few steps back before falling flat on his ass. 

Jeremy was curled up in a ball at his feet and had been responsible for the fall. The gun skittered away from Dirk and, before he could get up, a bullet hole materialized between his eyes.

Gavin was standing there, Dirk’s gun held steadily between his hands.

The four stood in silence for a while before Michael spoke up. 

“ _ Oh Micool _ ,” he mocked Gavin in a poorly executed British accent. “ _ You’re in danger, Micool. What would I ever do without my boi? Why I would just die. _ ”

“Piss off,” Gavin snapped. “It’s called bloody acting. I did a better job than you. If it weren’t for me, the prick who had you wouldn’t have underestimated you as much.”

Michael laughed and waved his hand through the air. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say Gavvers.”

Jeremy turned to Gavin and excitedly asked, “How was that, Gav?”

The Brit smiled and ruffled the younger’s hair. “You did really good, Lil’ J. We need to work on your stand though. You took a while to get back on your feet after he tripped over you.”

Jeremy nodded and looked back at Michael. “Michael, you were so cool. The way you just slashed at that guy. How’d you down him so fast?”

“The key,” the elder said, “is to go for the Achilles tendon.”

“Plan epsilon went really well,” Gavin grinned.

Michael just shrugged in response. “They were easy to take down.”

“What the fuck is this hell?” Ryan murmured. “I get you all are growing up in a life of crime, but I wasn’t expecting fucking grade schoolers to be slitting throats. 

Michael turned his attention to Ryan shrugged. “I told you when you got back from Torchwick’s; we’ve never been taken before, I never said it was from lack of trying.”

Ryan stared at the boys and they stared right back. “It’s just now really sinking it. I know absolutely nothing about you guys.”

* * *

“I think it’s about time you tell me everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let it begin.


	10. Gavin

**Gavin David Free**

D.O.B: 2305200x

Born: Thame, Oxfordshire

Hair: Blond

Eyes: Green

Height: 132 cm

Gender: M

ACTOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dropping tomorrow


	11. Gavin Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origin Story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Child neglect and implied abuse

When Geoff first heard Gavin’s story, it sounded like something out of a twisted fairytale.

When his mother died, his father married a bitch. She was an attractive woman, no doubt about it, with long dark hair and bright green eyes. Unfortunately for Gavin, her beauty was strictly superficial. The bitch never cared for Gavin but didn’t complain about him too much. It was an okay arrangement. Gavin would stay out of her business and, in turn, she would stay out of his.

Then his father died, and the bitch became his full-time guardian. Gavin tried, he tried so hard, to get along with her. He did as she asked and took guesses at what she wanted. But the woman didn’t care. She was neglectful, to say the least. Gavin learned at a very early age how to prepare frozen meals and ramen. She was rarely around and Gavin would often have to make his own way to school when she didn’t return after a night out.

He never complained, though. His stepmother was the only family he had and it was better than being in a foster system. At least there was food in the cabinets and a roof over his head. He didn’t realise that they were living off the money his parents had left behind. He also didn’t realise, until it was too late, that the money they were living off of would eventually run out.

His stepmother explained it to him one day, in layman's terms. “You’re like a fucking parisite. All you do is consume and take and expect. I wish you weren’t so bloody useless. You’re fucking expensive to take care of, do you know that? You’re going to run me into poverty.”

Gavin’s only response was a bowed head and a murmured apology.

The bitch’s solution, it seemed, was to bring in another source of income that still didn’t require her to do work, no matter how sleazy they were.

Her boyfriend, a man who insisted Gavin refer to him only as Sir, caused Gavin to realise how fucked up his situation truly was. Gavin learned almost immediately not to piss off Sir. It was a tough business, though. The tiniest thing could set him off. Gavin’s textbook lying abandoned on the couch, a single glass left in the sink, piss on the toilet seat even though, most of the time, it was his.

He never touched the bitch though. They spent most of their time out at various bars and the homes of friends. If they were at the house, they would spend their nights fucking and their days smoking. Gavin often found himself wondering how Sir brought in any money himself.

No, Sir never touched the bitch. Gavin, however, he treated without a single shred of humanity. The teachers at school just accepted the fact that Gavin would fall down the stairs a lot.

Still, Gavin never complained.

* * *

 “We should go on a family vacation,” Sir said one night. Gavin was seated on the floor while the bitch was straddled across Sir’s lap on the couch.

The bitch took a break from sucking hickeys onto Sir’s neck to glance back at Gavin. “What do you think, Gav? We could all go somewhere in America. Just you, me, and Daddy.”

Gavin was suspicious, but replied, “I’d like that.”

The bitch grinned, and went back to sucking on Sir’s exposed neck, while Sir continued to watch the telly, one hand slipping down the waistband of the bitch’s jeans.

* * *

Sir and the bitch described Los Santos as being like any other Californian city. White sandy beaches, bright skies, colorful people. When they got there, though, Gavin saw none of that. Instead, he saw people who glared at him if he watched them for too long, stores that sold nothing but booze and tobacco, and so many police vehicles that he thought the sirens would eventually drive him mental.

Eventually, they came to a toy store. Sir explained that it was a special occasion and that Gavin could pick out anything he wanted. Gavin was, of course, suspicious, but they had made good on their promise of a vacation. Why should he doubt them now?

He split off from the adults to search for his toy. Eventually, he picked out a stuffed koala and went back to look for his guardians.

He searched for thirty minutes with no luck.

He went to the front desk and they made a generic lost child call over the intercom. The message was relayed several times, but nobody came.

Gavin waited until the manager explained that the store was closing and he had to leave. When Gavin cried to her, saying he couldn’t find his parents, the young adult shrugged and said, “Not my problem,” before plucking the koala out of Gavin’s arms and ushering him out of the store.  

* * *

Gavin weaved through the streets of Los Santos, asking for directions to the police station. Most people ignored him while others made warning noises in the back of their throat.

Eventually, an elderly man gave him directions but with this message, “I wouldn’t count on them. Whatever you need, you’ll have better luck asking for help from a rat.”

Gavin smiled uncomfortably, before moving along towards the station. He stood on his tip toes and looked at the cop attending the front desk.

The man looked bored but allowed Gavin to explain his circumstances. He listened to the tale then shrugged.

“Do you think they _want_ you back?”  
Gavin frowned and asked, “Why wouldn’t they?”

The cop _laughed_. “Kid,” he said, “listen. Whoever you guardians are, they clearly did their research. If you were going to abandon a kid anywhere in the world, Los Santos is the best place to do it. Sounds like your British too, right? You couldn’t be farther from home. These assholes aren’t going to get in trouble either. They’ll get back home and explain they left you with some extended family or something. If no one cared enough to ask about that black eye, then no one is going to care enough to come looking for you.”

Gavin stood, in shock. What this man was saying, it wasn’t a far-fetched idea.

“Now I _could_ put you in the system, but it’s a pretty worthless endeavor. It’s a lot of unnecessary paperwork for me, and most kids end up in a situation much worse than you could imagine. My advice to you is head back out on the streets and offer your ‘services’ to the first guy that’ll give you a nickel.”

* * *

Gavin wandered the streets of Los Santos that night. Cold, alone, and frightened. People would talk to him, a string of nonsense or lude comments.

Gavin eventually settled down for the night, in a dark corner of an alley, arms wrapped around his knees and tears staining his checks.

* * *

Gavin jumped awake to cool fingers pressed against his neck.

“Oh thank God,” a voice said. “I thought for sure you were dead.”

Gavin didn’t turn to face the man. Just made himself as small as he could and pulled himself farther into the corner.

“Hey kid,” the man said, “are you feeling okay?”

He shook his head in response.

“Where are your parents?”

That brought forth a fresh round of sobs.

“Hey,” the man moved closer to Gavin. “Hey, buddy. It’s okay. I’ll help you, okay. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

* * *

“So Geoff took Gavin in out of the goodness of his heart?” Ryan asked. He was sitting in the armchair in the living room, watching Jack make herself a fresh pot of coffee.

“Yeah,” Jack responded. “He was a five-year-old kid, left alone on the streets of Los Santos. Leaving him there would pretty much be the same as playing a part in his murder. He filled a little Gavin shaped hole in our heart if I’m being honest.” Jack smiled to herself as she remembered something. “The next day, after Gavin told Geoff his story, Geoff went back to the store he’d been abandoned in and bought him that koala. He still has it today.”

Ryan smiled too but got back to business quickly. “So, how did he learn to fight like that?”

“It wasn’t our plan at first. Not until we brought in Michael.”


	12. Michael and Ray

**Michael Vincent Jones**

D.O.B: 2407200x

Born: Woodbridge, NJ

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Height: 130 cm

Gender: M

SOLDIER

 

 

 

**Ray Narvaez Jr.**

D.O.B: 1509201x

Born: Manhattan, NY

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

Height: N/A

Gender: M

N/A

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a lot of updates for one day tbh. Also, can we talk about that FUCKING DOG OH MY LORD IT'S SO CUTE.


	13. Michael Jones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origin Story.

Michael was at a sleepover when his parents died. He and Ray were in lounging on Ray’s bed, playing video games with the volume barely above a whisper.

When Mrs. Narvaez entered the room, both boys were sure it was because they were in trouble for staying up so late. Instead, she explained that Michael's house had burned to the ground. His parents, his brothers, even his dog were all gone.

It wasn't until later that he found out all the details of their deaths. That the person had tampered with the boiler room which caused a small explosion. After the ball of fire took out half the household, all means of escape had been sealed off, leaving the remaining Joneses in there to burn.

But that didn't matter to Michael at the moment. What mattered was the fact that Ray's mom just told him he was alone.

* * *

Ray and Michael were two years apart in terms of age. They went to different schools too, but they found that none of that mattered. Their parents had been close friends and, when Ray’s mom gave birth to her only son, Michael immediately took in the role of big brother.

Michael was the youngest in his family so he was excited to finally take on the role even though he was only two years old at the time. The boys practically grew up together, their parents acting as chauffeurs on the weekends. When Michael's parents died, Mr. and Mrs. Narvaez took Michael in, acting as foster parents until the system could finally track down his extended family and offer him a home.

After living with Ray for six months, Michael finally made a decision.

* * *

“He goes by ‘the Meta’,” Michael was explaining to Ray. His research was pulled up on their home’s desktop computer and Michael clicked through the tabs as he continued. “He’s what the police refer to as a ‘serial killer’. That means he kills a lot of people. He’s been doing it for years, but the cops are too dumb to catch him.” The seven-year-old opened another tab and pointed at the article. “He was last seen in Los Santos. He killed a couple there two days ago.” Michael turned to Ray, a serious expression on his face. “The Meta moves quickly, and it’ll take almost three days to get there by bus. I have to go, Ray.”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ve been saving up money. I already bought a bus ticket for tomorrow at 10:00 am. After your dad drops us off at school, I’m going. I, uh...” Michael trailed off and glanced away. “I saved enough money for two tickets if you want to come with me...”

“Wait, Michael,” Ray shook his head and waved his arms in a stopping motion. “Let’s sit down and think about this-”

“I _have_ been thinking about it, Ray. If the cops haven’t caught them yet, then someone else has to do it. If I don’t go now, then who knows when he’ll pop up again.”

“But what about my mom and dad-”

“They’ll just try and stop us. I don’t have time for that, and I’m only telling you my plan because I trust you. Now, are you coming with me or not?”

Ray thought about it. Considered what this would all mean for him. How dangerous this would be to take on.

It didn’t matter though. He already knew what his answer would be.

* * *

The bus reminded Michael of what he always thought a plane would look like. There were reclining seats and uniformed men and women walking up and down the aisle attending to the passenger’s needs. Michael had splurged for premium seating, so his and Ray’s seats allowed them to charge their DSes when they got low on power. They were also provided with tablets so they could watch movies.

Still, after the first few hours of the trip, the boys started to go a little stir crazy. They kept it mostly under control, Ray doing especially well. He slept when they weren’t playing games and kicked Michael’s ass when they were. Michael, on the other hand, would get out at every stop and purchased enough puzzle books and coloring books to make even the most privileged of kids jealous. He didn’t start getting tired until after the first twelve hours of the journey but, even then, he fought to stay awake so he could watch over Ray while the younger boy slept.

* * *

The entire time Michael and Ray were on the bus, not one person asked them where their parents were. Ray figured that it was because the thought if they on the bus, _somebody_ had to have bought their tickets. Michael countered with the argument that nobody really gave a flying fuck.

When they got onto their second transfer bus, they were expecting the same laissez-faire treatment. That’s why Michael panicked when the bus driver asked. He glanced around at the few passengers who had already found their seats on the bus before pointing out a random woman, reading a book. The bus driver glared at the boys suspiciously before standing and ushering them to further into the bus.

Michael thought he was going to cry. They had made it all the way to Las Vegas, and now they were going to get caught and sent home. He wouldn’t get the chance to search for the Meta anytime soon and Ray’s parents would be furious with them. They would never forgive him for taking Ray away from home and probably send him into the foster care system. Michael would never be able to avenge his family, all because he wasn’t smart enough to come up with a better lie.

The bus driver stopped in front of the woman, Michael and Ray staring dejectedly at the ground. “Excuse me, ma’am,” the driver spoke, “are these your boys?”

Rather than rejecting the claim, however, the woman simply nodded and said easily, “Yeah, they’re mine. I’m sorry, we’re they causing trouble?”

“No, no. I just wanted to make sure they weren’t traveling alone. Sorry for interrupting you.”

“It’s no problem. Thank you, sir.”

The bus driver left, and Michael and Ray sat in the seats across the aisle from the lady who had just saved their skin. Once the bus driver was out of earshot, Ray turned to her and thanked her.

“Don’t thank me quite yet,” she replied. “I want to hear your stories and make sure I’m not risking anything by covering for you.”

“I’m Ray,” Ray turned to Michael, smiling encouragingly.

“Michael,” the older boy muttered.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” the woman said. “My name’s Jack. Now, who’s going to start first?”

* * *

“Michael told me his story, how he was looking for the Meta.”

“Did you ever find him?”

Jack shook her head. “We’re still searching for him. When I first heard how he had killed Michael’s parents, it struck a chord with me. When Geoff heard it was the doing of the Meta, it resonated even deeper with him.”

“Why?” Ryan asked. “What’s Geoff’s deal?”

“That’s not for me to share.” Jack had seated herself next to Ryan on the couch, turned to give him her full attention.

“Jack, come on. I thought you were going to tell me everything.”

“I’ll tell you everything I can, but Geoff’s history is different. It’s personal, and very few people know it.”

Ryan let his shoulders sink in disappointment but nodded in submission. “So, what happened next?”

“When we arrived in Los Santos, I brought the boys back to our home. Geoff and I weren’t sure what to do with the boys at the time. We made promises to Michael, saying we would hunt down the Meta for him, but Michael wasn’t happy. When he found out we could fight, he insisted we train him. Teach him how to fight so when the time came, he could take out the Meta on his own. That’s why we started training Michael, and we decided to do the same with Gavin after an attempted kidnapping. It just came naturally with Jeremy.

“Michael told us he had no home to return to, and that if we sent him back, he would just continue to hunt the Meta. It didn’t help that Gavin, who was six at the time, was immediately taken with both boys.”

“So what about Ray,” Ryan asked. “What happened to him?”

“We got in contact with Mrs. and Mr. Narvaez. The last thing we needed was to be accused of kidnapping. They cried when they found out the boys were alright, and we sent Ray home on a plane almost immediately. They agreed they wouldn’t alert the authorities that Michael was still with us as long as we could convince them we could take care of him. Not exactly easy considering what we do-”

“So wait, they know you’re gangsters?”

Jack laughed at that. “No, we told them we were cops. Michael didn’t even know what we did until later. He just thought it was bad ass.”

“So, you were able to convince them that you could take care of him?”

Jack nodded. “It took over a week, but we did it. After we convinced them, we called Michael’s social worker. After some forged documents and a bit of bribery, Michael Jones officially became Michael Ramsey.”

“Why Ramsey again?”

“Because _fucking Geoff_ had already changed Gavin’s last name to Ramsey and he said that if they were going to be brothers, it wouldn’t make sense to have different last names. I didn’t realize how stupid that sounded until later.”

Ryan laughed. “So, I’m guessing Jeremy’s last name is also-”

“Ramsey, yeah.”

Ryan smiled fondly. “Do Michael and Ray still stay in touch?”

“The used to. The year after they split up, they used to talk on the phone practically every day. One day, Ray just said he couldn’t anymore. No explanation, he just stopped picking up. That just about broke Michael’s heart. He didn’t really get out of his slump until we found Lil’ J.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Ray ever come back? Hmm...


	14. Jeremy

**Jeremy Nicholas Dooley**

D.O.B: 0406201x

Born: Winchester, MA

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Height: 114 cm

Gender: M

UNDETERMINED

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at Jeremy! Appreciate how adorable he is!


	15. Jeremy Dooley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origin Story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when life catches up to you...

Jeremy grew up in the life. Well, at least as much as one  _ can  _ grow up during his short five years of life. He didn’t know much about his family, he was too young to ever ask questions. That left Geoff and Jack to fill in the blanks. 

Both of his parents were young, had barely entered their twenties by the time the raid happen. They were members of an extremely powerful gang, had been ever since they were young teenagers. Jeremy remembered they loved each other very much. 

The gang was large, but nearly all the members had an emotional attachment to each other. Sometimes, those attachments became intimate. Long story short, Jeremy wasn’t the only kid born into the life. He had friends he saw as his brothers and sisters and adults he saw as his aunts and uncles. 

For all it’s perks, the gang was far from perfect. They stole, kidnapped, and murdered without remorse. It was just the way of life for them all, and it was the life Jeremy was growing up into. 

Over time, their gang grew, and many of the members decided Massachusetts was getting too small for them. They felt it wasn’t where they belonged. They wanted to move away to Los Santos, the city of crime.

Before the growth of the crew, staying together was their core value. But, with so many people wanting to stay, they split up. Half of the group moved across the country, Jeremy’s parents among them.

That’s as much as Geoff and Jack were able to piece together. The rest came from Jeremy’s memory. 

“This is your home, Jeremy,” his mother said, leading him around the small apartment. “This is your room,” she motioned to a soft blue colored room with a bed and tableside lamp shoved in the corner, “and this is Mommy and Daddy’s room,” she finished pointing to the end of the short hallway. “Uncle Hutch and Aunt Marlow are on this floor too if you need them. I know you’re sad that no other kids came with us, but we’ll get settled in, and it’ll be like our old home before you know it!”

Jeremy nodded but rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. “Aw, Jeremy,” his mother lifted him up and set him on her hip. “You’ve had a long day. Let’s get you some shut-eye, bud.” 

Jeremy nestled into his mother’s side delirious, but comfortable. 

* * *

A week later, Jeremy jolted awake to the sound of gunfire. Shouting and the sounds of bodies hitting the floor rang down the hallway. Screams and orders pierced the air and Jeremy sat, frozen in his bed. The door to his room burst open and Jeremy let out a blood-curdling scream. A coarse hand covered his mouth, and Jeremy began to calm when he realized it was his father. The fear spiked up again after he saw the panicked look in the man’s eyes.

Jeremy’s father lifted Jeremy off the bed and shoved him into the closet. “Make yourself as small as possible,” the Bostonian hissed. “Don’t make a sound and don’t come out, no matter what.” Jeremy was crying but nodded silently. His dad planted a kiss to the child’s forehead, then covered the young boy in a mountain of clothes, pulling jackets and pants off their hangers and tossing them on top of his son’s small body. There was still an exposed space so Jeremy could breathe properly and see. His father closed the closet door behind him hurriedly and turned to the bedroom window. Jeremy could see through the slit in the closet door as the man wrenched it open, and moved to escape. He didn’t manage to even sling a leg over the windowsill before three, heavily armed men, entered the room. 

One of them grabbed Jeremy’s dad by the collar of his shirt while another aimed a rifle at his chest. Intruder One shoved Jeremy’s father to his knees while Intruder Two shot the man several times, point blank in the chest. 

Jeremy didn’t call out, didn’t let out a wail of pain. He just stared at the body in shock, watching the blood leak from the bullet wounds.

“Check everywhere,” Intruder Two ordered. “Find anything valuable. Information, drugs, skeletons,  _ anything _ .”

The men began to ransack Jeremy’s room, overturning drawers, stripping his bed and, finally, opening the closet doors. 

Intruder Three riffled through the pile of clothes, but Jeremy stayed quiet, and the man didn’t seem to be looking very hard. After a few tense moments, the intruder seemed to be ready to move along when his hand brushed against Jeremy’s arm. Intruder Three began to shift aside the clothes between him and Jeremy. Despite his efforts to move further and further away, Jeremy was eventually exposed and the man seized him by his upper arm. 

“Jackpot,” he grinned wickedly. “Hey boss, I found a brat.”

Jeremy struggled to pull himself out of the grasp of the man, but Intruder Three practically lifted the small boy off the ground. The strain of gravity made Jeremy feel that his arm would pop out of its socket and caused tears to spring to his eyes. 

“Throw him in the car,” Intruder two ordered. “We’ll transfer him with the rest of the equipment.”

Jeremy let out strangled cries and kicked at the man as hard as he could, but nothing he did worked, and he was dragged screaming from his bedroom. In the living room, Jeremy saw his mother pinned to the ground, arms behind her back and cheek pressed to the carpet. When she caught sight of Jeremy, she let out screams and pressed against her assailants.

“Jeremy!” she cried out. “Jeremy, no!”

“Mommy,” Jeremy sobbed as Intruder Three dragged him away.

“She’s going to be too much trouble,” Intruder Two spoke as he emerged from Jeremy’s room. “Just put a bullet in her.”

Jeremy’s mother’s screams became louder and more frantic, and Jeremy’s tears came down harder. Jeremy had just been pulled out of the apartment when his mother’s screams were abruptly silenced by a single gunshot. 

* * *

Jeremy was transferred in the trunk of a white sedan. He spent the entire ride screaming, and pounding against the lid, to no avail. The car eventually pulled over, and the trunk was opened to the smell of ocean air and the sight of a cloud covered sky.

He was roughly pulled from the trunk and dragged into one of Los Santos’ major shipping yards. A man waiting at the dock walked over and took a look at the squirming child. 

“What is this?” he asked, grabbing Jeremy’s chin in his hand and examining him closer. 

“He’s a kid from the base of those Bostonian fuckers. Parents are dead and he won’t be missed. We figured we could sell him or something,” Intruder Three shrugged.

The other man nodded and led the intruder to a shipping container on the far end of the dock. He assisted in getting the doors open to reveal a vintage sports car that would be transferred with the rest of the equipment stolen from Jeremy’s gang.

“Store him in the trunk. That way, he won’t be jostled around too much.”

“Two trunks in one night,” Intruder Three grinned down at the child. “At least you’ll be used to it by now.”

* * *

“And then?” Ryan probed.

“They left him there, planning on transferring him and the equipment down South.”

“So then how did you end up finding Jeremy?”

“It was honestly coincidental. We knew a rival gang -the White Fang- would be doing a massive transfer of weapons, and Rooster Teeth was already making plans to strike. When Geoff and I came across our designated container, imagine our reaction to seeing nothing but a vintage, 1961 GT California Spider. Geoff was thrilled, explaining that, because it wasn’t weaponry, we probably would be able to keep the car. I was examining the car for hidden hatches or weapons while Geoff was ‘examining’ the driver’s seat. 

“When I popped the trunk, there he was, tear-stained cheeks, and shaking. I pulled him out and dragged Geoff away from the car. We got in touch with Burnie and left the scene. All of the dock workers were already dead anyway. 

“By the time we got Jeremy home, he still hadn’t spoken a word. Michael and Gav were ecstatic to see Jeremy, but even their enthusiasm didn’t coax a response out of the boy. He slept in Gavin’s room, and hid out there for most of the next day.”

Jack scrubbed her face with a hand, the memory obviously painful for her. It was hard for Ryan to hear too. Learning that Jeremy, usually so full of light, had gone through such a dark phase at such a young age. 

“It was Michael who was eventually able to get him to talk,” Jack continued. “He had apparently come across Jeremy’s gang while searching for the Meta, and they were able to bond over that. Michael gave us the information he was able to get out of Jeremy and we attempted to contact the remaining gang back in Boston.” Jack paused and glanced away. “Apparently, the portion of the gang who moved here pissed off a lot of other gangs. The White Fang apparently had connections on the East coast and wanted to send a message. Jeremy’s gang... Every single member was killed.”

Ryan snapped to attention, horror in his eyes. “All of them?”

Jack solemnly nodded. 

“But what about all the kids? You said Jeremy grew up with children his age.”

“We were too late. If they weren’t dead, they disappeared. We have no leads on where they went.”

Ryan put his head in his hands. “Poor Jeremy. Gavin. Michael. None of them deserve this.”

“This?” Jack asked.

“They’re too kind. Too innocent. They deserve to be happy with their parents.”

“You deserve that too, Ryan.”

“I don’t!” Ryan snapped at Jack. “The lads had no control over their situation. I did. I had control and I fucked it all up!”

There was silence from Jack as Ryan felt tears beginning to build. He jumped when a hand laid on his shoulder. 

“Ryan,” Geoff’s voice was gentle, sympathetic.

“How long have you been listening?” Ryan sniffed. 

“Long enough.” Geoff gave Ryan’s shoulder a pat and Jack spoke up.

“Ryan, we’re here for you.” She moved to sit opposite of him on the couch, and Ryan felt the cushion sink under her weight. Taking his hand in hers she gave him a comforting squeeze. “Tell us what happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Uncle] Hutch and [Aunt] Marlow are RT characters. If you understand the reference, you're like me! You also spend way too much time watching Rooster Teeth content!


	16. Ryan

**James Ryan Haywood**

D.O.B: 0612200x

Born: Columbus, GA

Hair: Dark Blond

Eyes: Blue

Height: 182 cm

Gender: M

HACKER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much floof. V cute.


	17. Ryan Haywood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Georgian Story. (Get it? Because it's an origin story and Ryan's from Georgia?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ten days. Wow, it's been a hot minute, hasn't it? See the end of the chapter for a special announcement totally unrelated to the fic!

Ryan chewed on the string of his hoodie typing away on the keyboard of his laptop. A smile slid into place as he watched the numbers count down from the millions to $0.00. He backed out of the multiple programs he had used to cover his tracks before shutting the screen of his laptop and leaning against the backboard of his bed. After a few moments of relieved silence, he pulled his phone off his bedside table and shot off a message.

**Me: Done**

The phone buzzed with a response almost immediately and Ryan grinned at the message.

**Siris: Well done, King. I’ll meet you at 3:30. Don’t be late.**

Ryan tossed the phone next to him on the bed. He rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles, trying to remove the aches he felt due to a sleepless night hunched over a computer screen. Ryan was tempted to get a few minutes of shut-eye, but his phone had told him it was already 5:35 in the morning, and he didn’t want to oversleep. Instead, he pulled on a sweatshirt and a pair of basketball shorts before leaving his room quietly, as to not wake his sleeping parents. He opened the front door of his home and shivered slightly in the early morning chill. He stretched, then began to jog through his neighborhood, running on the knowledge that Siris would be paying him well.

* * *

The bell rang announcing the end of the day. As Ryan made his way to his locker, a dark-haired girl with a brilliant smile jogged to catch up to him.

“Hi Ryan,” she grinned.

“Hey Veronica,” Ryan said, returning the enthusiastic expression.

“We should hang out after school today,” she said, beginning to skip backward. “I’ll buy you a Slurpee or something.”

“I’d love to, but I have to meet someone in thirty minutes.”

Veronica’s face fell, but she shrugged off the disappointment. “Tomorrow then?”

“For sure.”

Ryan exited the school building with Veronica and gave her a peck on the lips before they parted ways. He plugged in his earbuds and began to play his “good vibes” playlist. He had to resist the urge to dance from excitement. Ryan had been hacking for a while now, but this was the first job he would ever be being paid for. If this went well, he could make a living out of screwing people over. Who wouldn’t want to make a career out of that?

Eventually, he came to a desolate part of town, with a few crumbling houses around as well as some abandoned factories and buildings. Ryan walked to the backside of a small warehouse and used wooden pallets, garbage cans, and upper body strength to hoist himself on top of the building. He kept low to avoid being spotted and moved along the slanted roof until he reached a hole that had been caused by a storm no one really remembered. He hung over the side of the hole and dropped onto the cube-shaped shed in the corner of the room.  Jumping down from that, he made his way through the rubbish and rubble of the abandoned building.

Pulling out his earbuds, he called out, “Siris?”

The lack of a response unnerved Ryan yet, he pushed down his unease and continued deeper into the warehouse. Siris knew Ryan was new to this, he was probably just trying to spook the younger man. A small-scale, criminal hazing.

Ryan leaped over the debris of other sections of broken roof. He navigated through the abandoned shelves and boxes before coming to the final turn of the building. Around the corner is where he and Siris had met face-to-face for the first time. This section of the warehouse was out of sight from the exterior facing windows and positioned in a way so that people would have a difficult time getting the jump on them.

When Ryan turned the corner, his heart leapt and he balked in shock. The body of a man was hanging by its ankles, strung from the ceiling. The corpse swayed slowly and as it spun to face Ryan, he could see a massive slit running from the pelvis, through his torso, and opening his throat.

The face was covered in blood, but Ryan knew it was, “Siris...”

Ryan choked down the bile he felt rising and turned to run. He slammed into a stone like chest and felt arm grab him and shove him to the ground.

* * *

 

_Metal crowbars._

_Hammers._

_Knives._

* * *

“They beat the shit out of me.”

* * *

“Young man...”

Ryan’s hearing was the first sense to return.

“Are you okay...?”

His vision slowly faded to the blurry image of a woman dressed in scrubs standing over him.

“Can you speak?”

The smell of earth mingled with gasoline and the clinical scent of plastic gloves.

“It’s going to be okay, sweetie.”

The taste of blood filled his mouth as more figures jogged to join the female nurse.

“What happened to you?”

He moved to push himself up to find that his wrist were bound behind his back. He was lying on his side facing the fluorescent lights emanating from a hospital.

“Get him undone!”

Urgent voices filled the air. Someone cut away the zip ties around Ryan’s ankles and wrists. Arms lifted him onto a gurney and Ryan’s head rolled to the side.

His feeling was the last sense to return.

* * *

When Ryan fully returned to consciousness, he saw his father asleep, slumped over in a chair and resting on the edge of his hospital bed. Ryan surveyed his own body, taking note of his injuries. A cast donned his left leg and arm, stitches ran across a cut in his abdomen, and bandages were wrapped around his neck and wrists.

“ _Dad_ ,” Ryan’s voice was weak, coming out as a rasp. With effort, he opted for reaching out and brushing the man’s arm in an attempt to wake him.

His father shifted and blinked the sleep out of his eyes before locking his gaze with Ryan’s. Tear’s leapt to the man’s eyes and he gently pulled his son into an embrace.

“James...” he whispered. “Rye- what happened to you?”

* * *

Realizing Ryan couldn’t speak, his father left to find a vending machine. A few moments later, a blond-haired doctor entered the room, a wide smile plastered on his face.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake, Mr. Haywood.”

Ryan nodded slowly as the man took a seat in the chair his dad had previously occupied.

“I’ll make this quick,” he said. Reaching forward, still wearing the smile on his face, the doctor took a hold of Ryan’s arm, pressing into one of the more tender bruises. Ryan winced, then his eyes widened in fear. “I’m not really a doctor, Mad King. I’m more of a... messenger.” Leaning even closer, piercing blue eyes bore into Ryan’s own. “I was sent by Campbell, who sent the mercenaries who,” he laughed, “sent you here.

“Long story short, Siris wasn’t on Campbell’s best side. Working for him was, to say the least, a mistake on your part. And stealing money from him? Definitely the straw that broke the camel's back. I’m supposed to do the whole ‘threaten your family and friends and that pretty little brunette you go to school with’ spiel, but I’m sure you know how this ends. What we want is for you to leave Georgia _immediately._ ”

Ryan’s eyes widened in shock and he shook his head. “I’ll stop,” the squeaked out. “I’ll stop hacking. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I won’t do it! Please!”

The man shook his head in a mocking fashion. “That’s not what I said.” A steely look slid into place, replacing the mask of unnerving glee. “Once you’re released from the hospital, you’ll go as far away from Georgia as you can get. If you don’t, well, you know the rest.” The man disguised as a doctor released Ryan’s arm. “To be honest, you’re fortunate you’re still alive.”

Second’s after the words left the man’s mouth, Mr. Haywood entered the room. “Everything's looking good here.” The blond haired man said, false enthusiasm lacing his words again. “You should be out of here in no time.”

* * *

When Ryan finished his story, it was met by silence from Jack and Geoff.

“Ryan,” Geoff began. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“It _is_ though. If I had just stayed in school and done my work and got a stupid fucking job in IT, I wouldn’t have had to leave.” The adults in the room said nothing, agitating Ryan even more. “See? You have nothing to say because I’m right, aren’t I. I fucked up. I fucked up my entire life because I wanted to make some extra cash.”

“Ryan that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be happy!” Jack cut in. She stood from the couch and wrapped her arms around herself in discomfort. Geoff got up as well and pulled her into a quick embrace.

He turned to Ryan and offered him a hand. Ryan took it and was yanked to his feet. “Listen, Ryan. You deserve to be happy. We’ll help you. Eventually, you’ll be able to make things right. We’ll make sure of it.” Geoff pulled Jack and Ryan into a group hug and Ryan felt strong arms wrap around him. It was a comfort that he hadn’t felt since he returned from Torchwick’s.

Slowly, very slowly, his anger and guilt melted away into something warm, and comfortable. He felt like he was finally safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *) Name change btw
> 
> 1) Spring break is coming up which means more updates soon!  
> 2) This is the last part of the Origin Stories arch. I hope you all enjoyed it!  
> 3) My friend and I created a writer’s discord that is 50% actual writing junk and 50% a huge meme (meam) fest. Our goal is to make a positive, open community where anyone can join as long as you’re not a douche. Invite link here: https://discord.gg/433nkCU . Hope to see you guys in there!


	18. Baby Driver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonding exercise goes slightly awry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's actually a really good Baby Driver x FAHC fic called "just me and the music" by misszuipperips that you all should read. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11646732
> 
> Serious notes at the end.

Geoff ordered a “family movie night” for the first time since Ryan moved in.

“We usually have it once a month,” he explained, “but we fell off the wagon ever since you’ve moved in.”

“And I,” Gavin cut in, “am incredibly grateful for that.”

“Yeah, Gavvers isn’t a huge fan of F.M.N.”

“Because all the movies you lot watch are _bloody awful_.”

“Hey,” Jack snapped. “Don’t you dare talk that way about _Cannibal: The Musical_.”

“I’m just saying,” Gavin groaned, “can’t we watch a movie people actually enjoyed.”

“I actually enjoyed _Cannibal: The Musical_.”

“Jack, you know what I mean, Jack.”

“I want to watch _Baby Driver_ ,” Michael piped up. “It’s supposed to be really good, and I think we’ll all like it. Also, it came out like, a million years ago and we still haven’t watched it.”

“Yeah, Geoff,” Jeremy pipped up. “Let’s watch that!”

“Fine,” Geoff muttered. “Break tradition. That’s cool. Actually watch a movie with a budget. Whatever.”

Begrudgingly, Geoff rented _Baby Driver_ and everyone gathered in the living room to watch. The Lads lied on the ground while Jack and Geoff cuddled on the couch. Ryan had moved the armchair over so that he could stretch out on it and see the T.V. clearly.

By the end of the film, Geoff was crying, Jack was comforting him, Michael and Gavin were running around pretending to be taking part of the action in the movie, Ryan was searching for related content on Tumblr, and Jeremy was asleep in the middle of the living room floor.

“Okay,” Geoff sniffed. “That was pretty good. We _have_ to complete a heist like that in real life. Jack, you be Darling, I’ll be Buddy, and Ryan, that leaves you to be Baby.”

“Can I be Bats?” Gavin asked, leaning on the arm of the couch.

“No, Gavin. That would be white-washing.”

Gavin frowned and looked like he was about to protest when he was tackled to the ground by Michael. Michael kept a squirming Gavin pinned to the ground while he spoke to Geoff.

“Why does Ryan get to be Baby. I want to be Baby!”

“You can’t drive, bud.”

“Neither can I,” Ryan shrugged.

Everyone turned to Ryan in shock. Even Gavin stopped struggling to look at the older boy.

“But aren’t you like, seventeen?” Geoff asked.

“Almost,” Ryan shrugged again. “But I left home before I got so much as a permit.” The four sets of eyes continued to stare at Ryan. “It never came up!” Ryan said, defensive now.

“New plan,” Geoff cut in. “Instead of planning a _Baby Driver_ heist, we’re teaching Ryan how to drive.

* * *

Horrible, horrible idea. Geoff wanted to teach Ryan how to drive because he believed it would foster some sort of a bond between the two. Unfortunately, Gavin and Michael would not be left behind, so Geoff had to deal with two bickering lads and a teen who had apparently never even played a driving game in his life.

~

“Don’t cross over, Rye,” Geoff instructed.

“I’m not crossing over.”

“You _are_.” Geoff pointed at the pedals then gestured at the position of Ryan’s feet. “Your left foot is supposed to stay on the dead pedal while your right foot is supposed to control the gas _and_ the brake.”

“Why wouldn’t my left foot stay on the brake and my right foot stay on the gas?”

“Because you can’t _brake_ Ryan while you’re trying to _drive_ Ryan,” Gavin interjected.

“ _Shut up_ ,” Ryan complained. “I’m trying.”

~

“Cars have steering, Ryan,” Geoff sighed. "Why are we going straight towards the sidewalk at the pace of a snail?”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Ryan mocked. “Would you rather I speed up and hit something?”

“We are in an _empty parking lot, Ryan._ What is there to hit?”

~

Apparently a lot of things.

“I didn’t think the curb was so close.”

“I swear, that tree just appeared out of nowhere.”

“What do you mean this car isn’t an ATV?”

~

“Let’s do donuts!”

“ _No_ , Michael.”

* * *

Despite the physical pain it caused Geoff, driving lessons continued, and Ryan got pretty good at it. By October, Ryan had his own fake ID but still wasn’t allowed to drive without Geoff or Jack.

Eventually, a heist came up that would require a getaway driver. Ryan enthusiastically volunteered.

“I don’t know, Ryan,” Geoff began. “We have professionals who do this for a reason.”

“Come on, Geoff. Remember? _Baby Driver_?”

Geoff relented and hoped he wouldn’t regret the decision.

As he and Jack left the bank through the back, Ryan was waiting, wearing a pair of sunglasses and earbuds.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jack asked, leaping into the passenger seat and yanking the wires out of Ryan’s ears.

“Baby Driver...”

“ _Just go_!”

Ryan peeled out of the alleyway and was immediately off to the races. However, once he drove onto occupied streets, he began to get nervous, slowing when cars cut in front of him and hissing with stress as he engaged in a drift. Geoff nearly lost it when he stopped at a stop sign.

“We are running from the _cops_. Don’t fucking stop at stop signs!”

To say the least, the group was lucky to have Barbara and Burnie covering them from the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone remember that super long note I left on the bottom of this chapter? Neither do I.
> 
> Point of those notes; Laurie is a person. I didn't think it would be that bad to include her in a chapter but I heard you guys and changed the name to Veronica. The second point basically said that this story isn't headed towards any particular direction as I originally planned. The second installment of this series is going to be the one that clears everything up.
> 
> For those who left all those lovely, supportive comments on this chapter, thank you very much. It encouraged me to keep going and I really appreciate all the love. :'>


	19. Bad British Accents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to, "how many RT references can SeaMonkeys fit into one fan-fiction?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm about to read a book called Time Shards and it sounds interesting as frick, so that's why Ryan's reading it.

Ryan grunted in pain as his back hit the cement floor.

“You’re getting better,” Barbara said, standing over the fallen teen. She released his arm from her death grip and stretched out her spine.

“Then why do I still feel like you’re beating the shit out of me?”

“Because I _am_ still beating the shit out of you,” Barbara said, taking a swig from her water bottle. “That doesn’t mean you’re not getting better.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ryan groaned as he picked himself up off the floor of Barbara’s basement. “What time is it?”

“Nine-forty-five. We’ve been going for nearly two hours.”

“Nearly.” Ryan cracked his neck and shook out his arms. “Let’s do another round or two.”

Ryan had been training with Barbara every Saturday for almost a month now. Jack or Geoff would teach him how to use weaponry and he would work on those techniques every Wednesday after school in addition to every other Sunday.

After Ryan got his ass handed to him in another match, Barbara asked if he wanted to hang out with her and Trevor in the afternoon.

“Please,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes. “I don’t want to be your third wheel.”

“Come on,” she groaned. “You never hang out outside of school. Besides, Alfredo will be there so you won’t be the third wheel. We’ll be a car instead of a tricycle.”

“Is this a double date? Are you trying to set me up with Alfredo? Or wait, am I you’re date and Alfredo and Trevor have finally made it official?”

Barb snorted and punched Ryan in the arm. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Maybe some other time. I promised the lads we’d have a Mario Party Saturday.”

“Ouch. God help your soul.”

* * *

Mario Party was officially far from Ryan’s favorite game. Very far. So far that, if he jumped from his favorite game all the way down to where Mario Party was on his list, he would die from the fall. He would never admit that the main reason was the fact the competition was only between the three lads and Michael would dominate almost every game. Instead, Ryan blamed the controls and gameplay.

“What are you _doing_ , Ryan?” Gavin asked in a panicked voice.

“I’m hitting the ‘a’ button!”

“You’re not, you pleb!”

“I _am_! The controller sucks!”

Michael and Jeremy giggled as Luigi and Yoshi raced across the screen, winning the mini-game before Gavin and Ryan had even made it halfway across the map.

“Ryan!” Michael wheezed out. His eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to contain his laughter.

“It’s not my fault. This controller’s broken!”

“Y _ou’re_ broken, Ryan,” Gavin countered. “Not only that, you broke the team!”

“The team?”

“You know. Team bloody... Love ‘n Stuff!”

Ryan raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his nose. “Team Love and Stuff.” He turned back to the screen. “Love and Stuff.” He watched as Michael rolled a seven. “Can I be the stuff?”

* * *

Ryan was sprawled out across the armchair reading a book called _Time Shards_ as the lads continued to play Mario Party. Jack had come to the rescue and offered to take over for Ryan for a game. He gratefully accepted, passing the burden of the Mario Party Marathon onto Jack.

Geoff was sitting at the breakfast bar, also reading, when a knock sounded at the door. Geoff exchanged a glance with Jack before standing to check the peephole.

“Oh, God dammit!” 

Geoff unchained and opened the door to let in a female who looked to be in her early twenties, with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Her smile was met with an irritated expression from Geoff.

When Jack saw who it was, she whispered under her breath, “Son of a bitch,” and got up to meet the stranger.

“Hello, Geoffrey,” the new girl greeted the older man.

“Go. Home.”

“What?”

“Go home, right now, Kaikaina.”

The dark-haired woman, Kaikaina, just rolled her eyes and pushed past Geoff, further into the apartment. “Whatever. Make me.”

“Kai, I will not hesitate to beat you senseless and drop you off at the nearest airport.”

Kaikaina gave Geoff puppy dog eyes and pushed out her lower lip. “I thought you would be happy to see me!” Jack approached the group and Kaikaina turned to face the redhead, her expression immediately brightening. “Hi, Jack! Still haven’t left my brother I see.”

“Hi, sister.”

“Wait,” Ryan thought this was an appropriate time to cut in. “Sister?”

The lads had paused their game and were listening intently as well. Michael and Jeremy looked confused but Gavin wore an expression of mischief and excitement.

“That’s my name,” Kaika- _Sister_ \- replied. “Literally.”

“Yeah but, Geoff has a sister?”

“He sure does.” The woman in question began to approach Ryan who sat up straighter under her scrutiny. “And what’s your name, cutie?”

“He’s underage, Kaikaina,” Geoff cut in, exasperation becoming more apparent in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Right. Business. I need to borrow Gavin.”

There was silence for a few moments before Geoff’s sharp response came. “What?”

“I need a kid to lower the defenses of a potential target and I may have already told them I was a _British mum_ ,” Sister answered, her accent becoming a poorly executed, posh, British one.

“Your accent is terrible, Sister,” Jack said. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I knew that my loving, wise, older brother would only want for me to be successful, and I knew that he just so _happened_ to be the adoptive father of one British lad.”

“Kaikaina you can’t,” Geoff sighed. “You can’t just,” he scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands in frustration. “You can’t not contact us for five years and then just show up here asking for a huge favor!”

“First of all, it’s been closer to four-and-a-half years and secondly, I didn’t exactly kick myself out of your house.”

“You brought back a serial killer to the penthouse while you were babysitting Gavin,” Geoff glared at her. “You kind of did.”

“Technically,” Sister cut in, “You’re a serial killer too, and I don’t see anyone complaining about that.”

“Go. Home.”

“Geoff, if this guy finds out I was pulling on his dick, he’ll murder me. Is that what you want? My murder?”

Geoff buried his head in his hands and let out a strangled groan. Jack bumped her shoulder against his in comfort. “We’ll sort this all out tomorrow,” she explained. “Give us a night to think it over. We’ll go over the details when we wake up tomorrow morning.”

“It’s like, four in the afternoon-”

“ _Tomorrow_ , Sister.”

“Fine fine. But hey,” Sister’s sincere tone caused Geoff to glance back up. “I’m going to need a place to crash.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear non-RvB watchers; You're all heathens and also, we find out Grif, who is voiced by Geoff, has a sister in season 5 of RvB. 
> 
> Thank you all for bearing with me during the last update. I took some time to organize (can you tell I'm American) my thoughts and sort out exactly where this fic is going. I decided that I would write a second installment of this fic which wraps up the main arches of Michael, Gavin, Jeremy, and Ryan. This work will not cover Jack and Geoff but I might do that one day too, who knows. I won't post the work until I'm completely done with it so I can post it on a weekly basis. Welcome Aboard won't really change all that much, continuing with one-shots and an odd mix of story arches. The reason I'm choosing to write a second installment is so that, sometime in the future when I discontinue this fic, there won't too many loose ends left to be tied up. Thank you all again for your lovely comments and support. It really helped me out. <3 (This is a party but. It is not a heart. It is a party butt.)


	20. A Few Broken Eggs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Geoff eats eggs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to Easter brunch with my family and learned from my little cousins that the f-word is apparently two dollars in the swear jar. Moral of the story, don't swear around children.

Ryan woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. Burnt, bacon and eggs. There was also a bit of smoke wafting towards the ceiling of his room. He waved his hand through the air, clearing the stench of burning food from in front of his face before groaning and rolling to get out of bed. He trudged to the kitchen to determine whether or not anything was actually on fire. Sister stood in front of the stove, the sound of sizzling oil diffusing through the air.

“What are you doing?” Ryan muttered, still in a sleep-deprived state.

Sister turned to smile at him before turning back to the task at hand. “I thought I would make breakfast for everyone. It’s the least I could do since I’m staying here.”

Ryan slid into a stool at the breakfast bar. “But,” he began, “Geoff usually makes breakfast...” he trailed off as Sister placed a plate full of brown eggs and blackish bacon in front of him. He picked up a slice of meat and examined it between his fingers. “No offense, Sister, but no one is going to eat this.”

Sister snorted and leaned across the bar, a condescending smirk adorning her face. “Wanna bet?”

As if on cue, Geoff made his entrance. Somehow, he defied all laws of nature and looked even more exhausted than Ryan did. 

“Good morning, Geoffry,” Sister said in a sing-song voice. Geoff grunted in return and sat in the stool next to Ryan. “I made you some breakfast,” Sister continued. She presented a plate, identical to Ryan’s, to Geoff and leaned against the counter, watching his interaction with the food.

Ryan looked on in shock and a bit of disgust as Geoff picked up a fork and dug into the eggs. Geoff’s facial muscles twitched as he took a bit, but there were no other signs of the nausea Ryan knew the older man must have been feeling.

“Thank you, Kai.” Sister smiled at the compliment and Geoff continued to consume his breakfast. Ryan watched with a morbid curiosity as Geoff ate the inedible. 

“So,” Geoff said, finishing his ‘breakfast’, “What’s the story with this guy you want to kill?”

“I never said I wanted to kill him.” Geoff gave Sister a disbelieving look. “I mean, I do. But I’m still offended that you would just jump to that conclusion.”

“Why do you need him dead?”

“I owe him some money.”

“And that’s  _ it _ ?” Geoff looked surprised, then exasperated. “Why don’t you just pay him?”

“I don’t want to pay this asshole ninety grand when I could just make my debt  _ disappear _ ,” Sister emphasized the last word with a hand gesture. 

“You’re a bitch.” Ryan frowned at the sudden change in Geoff’s demeanor. Sister rolled her eyes and began to speak again but Geoff cut her off. “You’re a  _ bitch _ . I can’t believe you did this.”

“What are you talking about?” Ryan cut in. 

Geoff turned to him, looking more annoyed than the teen had ever seen him before. “She gave me an ultimatum.”

“What?”

“She knows I don’t want her dead, so she gave me two options.” Geoff turned back to Sister who refused to make eye contact with her brother. “She presented herself to the target as a ‘ _ british mum _ ’ because she knew that I would be reluctant to lend Gavin on a mission.”

“I'm still... I’m confused,” Ryan shook his head. 

“Either I help her kill this man, and put Gavin in harm’s way in the process, or I give her the money so she can pay him back.”

“Geoff, come on. I would never do that.” Sister turned to place Geoff’s breakfast dishes in the sink.

“You  _ would _ do that! You’re doing it right now!”

There was a tense silence for a few moments before Sister turned back to face the furious man. “Okay listen-”

“Un-fucking-believable.” Geoff stood abruptly from the bar. 

“Ninety grand wouldn’t make a dent in your deep ass pockets,” Sister exclaimed.

“It’s still a lot of money, Dickhead.” Geoff turned on his heel and marched out of the room. “I’m going back to bed.”

Ryan watched him leave then turned to face Sister. “That was kind of a dick move,” he said. 

Sister just shrugged in return. “Yeah, but he’s going to give in, so it was worth it.”

* * *

Ryan sat in the back of the van, listening in on the coms as he and Geoff watch Sister’s progress on a computer screen. Geoff had calmed down considerably from the morning, but Ryan could sense that he was still fuming silently. 

Sister was sitting on a park bench, a stereotypical briefcase full of money beside her. She looked carefree and a bit smug, which definitely did not improve Geoff’s mood.

While they waited for the target to appear, Ryan turned to Geoff and struck up a conversation with the man. 

“So, why don’t you leave Sister to rot? It doesn’t seem like you two have the best brother-sister relationship.”

Geoff just shrugged. “I took care of her when our mom... left. I guess I feel responsible for her is all.” 

Ryan nodded as he processed this information. “Do you ever think...” he began, but hesitated. The topic would be sensitive, but curiosity overruled common decency. “Do you think that you feel responsible for too many of us? Do you ever think that you have too many weak-points?” 

Geoff startled a bit at the question. He opened his mouth to respond, but the coms crackled to life and Sister’s voice came through. “He’s here. Get ready to murder a shit ton of bystanders if things go south.”

Sister stood as a man dressed in a nicely pressed suit entered the frame. 

“Kayla,” he greeted sister by her fake name with a wide smile. Sister returned the expression and brought the man into an embrace. 

“Despite how lovely this all is,” Sister said in a totally American accent, “I’ll just cut to the chase.”

The mystery man startled and frowned as Sister handed him the briefcase. “Wait- where’s your son? I thought you were British? What-”

“First of all, there’s no way I would ever be a mother. I thought about having a kid once but,” Sister waved her hand dismissively through the air. “Secondly, you didn’t believe a single word out of my mouth. So here’s your money, you can stop your plotting now.”

The man looked like he was about to protest before thinking better of it. “All fifty-thousand is here?”

“Plus and extra five-thousand for putting you through all this trouble.”

The man nodded and transferred the briefcase to the other hand. “If it’s not all there-”

“Yeah yeah. You’ll track me down and all that shit. Whatever bud. See you around.”

As the man left, Sister smiled and gave a thumbs up to the camera Geoff and Ryan were watching.

“Fifty-five fucking grand,” Geoff began, his temper rising again. “That fucking bitch played me for thirty-five-thousand dollars.”

“Geoff-”

“I’m going to kill her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Geoff did not, in fact, kill Sister.


	21. Second Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of this was too short so, have two little one-shots about the rain in one little chapter. Little.

Ryan loved the rain.

The sound, the smell, the sight, all of it. It’s why, halfway through a hacking job, he abandoned his laptop and left his room in favor of dragging an armchair in front of the large-scale glass windows of the penthouse. He sat, curled in the seat, steaming mug of tea warming his hands, watching as the lights of Los Santos were reflected in the falling drops of water. A low rumble of thunder shook the building and Ryan closed his eyes to take in the vibrations.

He jumped at the sudden sound of dishes clanging together behind him. Twisting in his chair, he saw a small figure, standing on its tiptoes, reaching into the kitchen cabinets.

“Gavin?” He ventured a guess.

“Michael.” The nine-year-old corrected, extracting a glass and turned to the faucet to fill it.

“What are you doing up? It’s like, two in the morning.”

“Thanks, Sherlock,” Michael snapped. “I needed some water.”

Another wave of thunder rippled through the penthouse and something clicked in Ryan’s brain. “Oh! Are you scared of thunder.”

“Of course I’m not!”

“You can tell me if you-”

“It’s Jeremy,” the lad cut Ryan off. “He hates these storms.”

“Oh...” Ryan glanced down. He and Jeremy had gotten fairly close over the last few months Ryan had been staying at the house. Gavin and Michael had Team Nice Dynamite and he and Jeremy had Team Battle Buddies. He couldn’t help but kick himself for not knowing the lad was afraid of thunder. “Do you, uh...” he began. “Does he need anything?”

“Nah, Rye. You’re fine,” Michael replied, already heading back to his room. “Gavin and I have got this down to a science.

~

Before Ryan had moved in, the lads all had their own room. However, they need to make space for the teen and, even though only two of them would be forced to share a room, all three of them opted to stay together, deeming the shared bedroom “the Lad Pad”.

When Ryan peeked into the bedroom to check in on Jeremy, he wasn’t surprised to see them all there. He was, however, a little surprised to see Gavin and Jeremy out of their bunk beds and cuddling with Michael on his twin sized mattress. The two older lads were on either side of the youngest, all sleeping peacefully.

Ryan thought it may have been the cutest thing he had ever seen.

* * *

“Fuck this fucking shitty ass fucking weather.”

“Didn’t Gavin just decided that ‘fuck’ is worth two dollars now? That’s... eight dollars in the swear jar.”

Geoff rolled his eyes and glared at Ryan. “Shut up, Haywood.”

Ryan pulled the hood of his jacket farther onto his head - to brace himself from the rain - and readjusted his position on the slick roof. “You really should have planned better.”

“I planned the best I could. These douche nozzles are here for a three-day trip. It just sucks that all three days had to coincide with the days mother nature wanted to give all of Los Santos the middle finger.”

Ryan made a face and peered through the scope of his sniper rifle. “How much longer do you think we’ll have to wait?”

“Their meeting got out five minutes ago, so not too much longer.”

Despite all his complaints, Ryan was actually quite excited. He had been training with Jack and Geoff for a little over two months and picked up on using a sniper rifle pretty quickly. He was best with knives, they discovered, but pretty apt in most forms of weaponry they had access to. This was his first mission where he would actually be putting some of his skills to the test.

The targets were fairly low-priority. Some corrupt businessmen who fucked over one of Rooster Teeth’s weapon dealers. They’d be easy to pick off if something went awry, but Ryan was still eager to show off. He figured if he could be a successful sniper in the rain, Geoff would take that as enough evidence to let him go out on more missions.

“Do you ever wonder,” Geoff began, “how you got to this point.”

Ryan turned his attention to the older man, before reverting his focus back to the task at hand. “Elaborate?”

“Like, you started out working for us as a hacker, and now your about to kill a guy.”

Ryan shrugged. “I like this better. I know I’m _good_ at hacking, but I just did it to make some extra cash. Now that I know how all this works, I’m having a lot more fun.”

“Okay. Slightly unnerving, but I’ll accept it for now.”

“Maybe,” Ryan said after a few moments of companionable silence, “I’ll teach Gavin how to hack so he can take over for me full time when he gets old enough.”

“Why Gav?”

“His hand-to-hand and close range is absolute shit. He’d be safer behind a screen than he would in a potentially threatening situation. Why? What would you have the lads do once they got older?”

“Well, if we’re still in the business by the time they get old enough, I would have Michael out and fighting with us and the mercs. Doubt he would let us have it any other way. Gavin is clearly developing quite the silver tongue, so he’d probably go out and make deals or work to get closer to targets. That’s more of what Kaikaina does. As for Lil’ J? I’m not sure. He has yet to find his calling.”

“Do you ever think about getting out? Taking the lads and just leaving?”

Geoff snorted at this. “Oh yeah, all the time.”

“So? Why don’t you?”

“Uh... It’s not that bad. It’s an exciting life and I enjoy some of it like how you do.”  Ryan could see in his peripheral as Geoff shook his head. “I guess we’re just messed up like that.”

Quiet.

“Hey, Ryan,” Geoff sounded nervous, capturing Ryan’s full attention. “If you, or one of the kids... if any of you ever wanted to leave, you know we’d help you, right? We’d get you set up far away and make sure you were taken care of. You could take the lads and live at least semi-normal lives.”

It was Ryan’s turn to laugh. “And leave you and Jack alone? How would you guys fend for yourselves in your old age?”

“Oh har har.” Geoff smiled then immediately sobered up again. “I’m serious though. Just, keep that in mind.”

“Yessir.”

Both men turned their attention back to the building the targets were supposed to be exiting at any minute. Eventually, one man, wearing a beige jacket, and one woman, clad in blue, exited. Ryan set the woman in his sights and waited for Geoff's mark.

“Now.”

The woman in blue crumpled to the ground but her companion jumped in surprise, still very alive.

“Fuck me!” Geoff cursed his missed shot.

The man started running and Geoff turned the barrel to follow his progress. Ryan did the same and took a deep breath. Releasing the air filling his lungs, the teen pulled the trigger and the second target was downed.

He pulled back and lowered the rifle. Geoff was staring at him with a mixture of awe and pride. “Well done, kid.”

Ryan didn’t even try and hide the smile spreading across his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, or you forgot, I'm working on the second work in this series to complement this fic. I'm going to refer to it as Overboard. The lads will be older in these upcoming archs so get ready for that (and everyone else will be older too because that's how time works)! Anyways, what I was getting at is the fact that Ryan is NOT the official snipper of this universe (*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*).


	22. Mario Kart Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Michael finds WebMD,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I've last seen y'all, I've gotten a job, babysat several times, worked on school work, tried out for my school talent show, volunteered at my cousin's middle school, found out I'm a junior escort for my school's graduation, and worked on applying for college courses for next semester. Now that the excuses are out of the way, please enjoy this all over the place chapter.

Ryan noticed something was odd when he picked the lads up from school. He offered to take them out for ice cream in celebration of a long weekend. Two of boys seemed excited, but Gavin... he was toned down.

They walked to the ice cream shop, Jeremy and Michael practically bouncing off the walls while Gavin smiled and joked around when directly involved, but something was still off. Ryan fell back and put his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder. 

“Hey,” he began. Green eyes peered up at Ryan and Gavin smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The teen frowned. “Are you doing alright?”

“Of course I am,  _ Ryan _ ,” the lad rolled his eyes. “Why would you even ask  _ that _ ?”

“You sound extremely sarcastic.”

Gavin pouted. “I’m not being sarcastic. You're just a reader. You’re reading into too much.” The boy shook Ryan off and jogged to catch up to Michael and Jeremy leaving the elder in a state of extreme confusion.

* * *

“But  _ Ryan _ ,” Jeremy whined on the verge of tears, “why can’t I get all of them?”

“Jeremy, that’s too much ice cream. Gavin is going to get two scoops, Michael picked two, why can’t you pick two as well?”

“Because I want three!”

Michael exchanged a look with Ryan, warning the elder that a tantrum was bubbling up. Ryan sighed and opened his mouth to give into the child when Gavin jumped in. 

“Jeremy, tell me the third flavor you want and I’ll get it. Then you can share some of mine.”

The younger nodded eagerly and Ryan continued to look on in confusion. 

When they settled at their table, Michael and Jeremy dug into their cups but Gavin picked around his ice cream, encouraging Jeremy to eat his top scoop. When Jeremy had finished with the first flavor in Gavin’s bowl and Michael had finished with his entire cup, Gavin pushed his remaining, half melted ice cream over to the oldest lad. Before Michael could greedily dig in, Ryan held a hand up, halting him. 

“Gavin,” he said, “eat your ice cream.”

“I’m not hungry Ryan.”

“I’m just testing a theory.”

The two bickered for a few more moments before Gavin threw up his hands in exasperation. “Fine! I’ll eat the bloody ice cream.” 

The brit took a spoonful of vanilla ice cream and held it hesitantly in front of his mouth. Ryan reached across the table and pushed his hand forward forcing the spoon far into his mouth. 

The lad’s first reaction was to gag. His second reaction was to throw the spoon out of his mouth and double over holding his cheek, squeezing tears out of his eyes. 

Ryan sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Michael was looking on, wide eyed before whirling on Ryan, fury in his eyes. “What the hell did you do to him?”

Ryan raised his hands in surrender at the sudden outburst. “I didn’t do anything. He has a cavity.”

“A what?” Jeremy asked. 

“A cavity. It’s something people can get if they don’t take care of their teeth. It makes their tooth more sensitive because there’s a hole in it.”

Michael still looked furious but his gaze was downcast and the expression was cut with an emotion Ryan couldn’t quite place.

Ryan stood and gestured for the kids to follow. “Let’s get back home. Jack and Geoff will figure this out.”

* * *

On the way back Michael watched Gavin with a mixture of protectiveness and concern. 

“Does it hurt?”

Gavin shrugged. “It aches a little bit, but I’m okay.”

The line of questioning continued and by the time the group got to the penthouse, Jeremy, Ryan,  _ and  _ Gavin were all ready to snap. 

“Michael, please,” Ryan groaned as he unlocked the multiple locks on the door. “He has a cavity. It won’t kill him.”

“How do you know?” The younger challenged. 

“Because cavities don’t kill people, Michael.”

The younger dashed past Ryan and ran down the hall. The others entered slower just as Michael was coming back into the living room, Ryan’s laptop under his arm. 

“Hey what are you-” Michael ignored the teen’s protests as he pulled himself onto a stool at the breakfast bar. He opened the computer and typed in the password he was granted after Ryan was sick of having to log in the kids every time they wanted to play a game on his computer. 

Ryan threw up his arms in defeat and opted for pulling out his phone to dial Jack. 

“What’s up?” she asked. 

“Gav has a cavity.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“Nope. The good news is that it doesn’t seem like it’s bothering him too much.”

Jack sighed on the other end of the line. “I’ll schedule an appointment for him tomorrow during the day. How’s Michael taking it?”

Ryan made his way over to the breakfast bar so he could get a look at what Michael was looking up on his laptop. “Oh, Jesus. How did you know he would take this badly?”

The lad flipped of Ryan as Jack responded. “He takes responsibility for Jeremy and Gavin. He definitely makes mountains out of molehills when it comes to them. What’s he doing?”

“He seems to be conducting an in-depth search about whether or not cavities can kill you.”

Jack snorted just as the sound of gunfire started up on her end.

“Jack?” Ryan asked, now alarmed. “What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry about it. Geoff and I are just on an assignment for RT. It’s pretty low-risk but looks like things are beginning to kick off. We’ll be home in an hour maybe? Try to calm Michael down if you can.”

“I’ll try my best,” Ryan said, reaching over Michael’s shoulder in order to click out of a particularly exaggerated article about abscessed teeth. “Don’t get shot.”

“I’ll try my best.”

* * *

Ryan was working on a physics assignment when a knock sounded at his door. He frowned and stood from his desk to let in whoever wanted to enter his room at almost twelve in the morning. He found Michael looking stressed beyond what was reasonable for a nine-year-old.

“Michael? What’s wrong?”

Michael reached up and it took Ryan a moment to realize the lad wanted a hug. He lifted Michael up and wrapped his arms around him a way he hoped was comforting. 

“Will Gavin be okay?”

Ryan smiled and patted Michael's back. “I promise. He’ll be fine, Michael.”

* * *

The next day, Gavin came back from the dentist with Geoff, a bit unsteady on his feet. Michael immediately rushed forward, effectively knocking the younger down with his bear hug. 

“Gavin! What happened? Are you okay?”

“Michael...?” Gavin blinked blearily at the older boy. “What are you doing here?”

“They gave him anesthesia,” Geoff explained. “The cavity was kind of bad so they had to numb the pain. He might be a little loopy for a while.”

Jeremy ventured over and sat next to Michael and Gavin near the penthouse's entryway. “What was it like in there?” he asked. “Was it scary?”

“I had... Mario Kart dreams. And each dentist was a different color.”

Ryan let out a little snort at the gibberish. “How many dentists did you have?”

“... A family. But I didn’t feel any of the teeth come out,” Gavin mumbled, sounding upset at the fact. 

“They didn’t take any teeth, bud,” Geoff laughed. “They just filled one of them.”

“Oh," Gavin murmured, looking like he was going to fall asleep on the spot. "That’s good. I like my teeth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Gav. It was just a baby tooth!  
> https://youtu.be/j3f4E_e-2I0


	23. Early Morning Icecubes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the word "smile" is used an excessive amount.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my irl friend, Emma, for providing me with this awesome, (and not yet completed), prompt.  
> If you guys have a prompt, comment it here or send it to me on Tumblr. I'm thirsting for some of that good inspiration/motivation.

“WAKE UP, DICKHEAD!” Geoff shouted, bursting into Ryan’s room. 

The teen groaned and looked up at the intruder groggily. “What the fuck?” Ryan groped for his phone and checked the time. “Geoff, it’s five am on a Saturday. Why?”

The gent couldn’t suppress the huge smile plastered across his face. “Our flight leaves in three hours.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and tossed it to Ryan. “You have an hour to get packed and ready. I made you a checklist of all the items you’ll need. The flight I booked is only two hours long, so if you run out of time, we’ll take a shower when we get there.”

Ryan was more awake now and sitting up at attention. “W-wait. Geoff, where-”

“Be ready in an hour, Rye!”

Geoff left the room with a flourish and went across the hall to the lad’s room. 

Jack bumped into Geoff in a disoriented state. She grabbed his arm partially to get his attention, partially to steady herself. “Geoff, what the fuck is happening?”

“No time! Get ready!” Before she could object, Geoff spun out of her grasp and entered the lad’s room.

“Michael, Gavin,  _ Jer-ri-mey! _ Get your asses out of bed!”

Gavin didn’t move a single muscle, Michael jolted awake then laid back down on his pillow, and Jeremy sat up, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and proceeded to inform Geoff that he owed the swear jar a dollar. 

Geoff grinned. He knew what he had to do. He left to the kitchen and came back holding one glass of water and one glass full of ice. He headed over to Michael’s twin sized bed and set the glasses on the desk beside it. Geoff then proceeded to fish ice cubes out of one of the glasses and slip them down the back of Michael shirt. 

“GEOFF! WHAT THE FUCK!” The nine-year-old screamed.

Geoff snickered, took the glass of water from atop the desk, and turned to the bunk beds Jeremy and Gavin shared. Jeremy watched the spectacle with curious, slightly fearful eyes from the top bunk. Geoff leaned over the bottom bunk and smiled maliciously at a sleeping Gavin.

The sound of water splashing onto the mattress was immediately followed up by the sound of confused squawking and made up curses. “Geoff! Geoff, you  _ absolute spap _ !” 

Jeremy’s laughter reassured Geoff that the smallest lad was awake enough not to need assistance. 

“Get up! Get packed!” Geoff slapped another checklist down on the desk next to a fuming Michael. “Make sure you have all these supplies. Michael, you’re in charge of making sure everyone stays on target.”

“Fuck that.”

“Nah it’s great. Big brother Michael. Get Jack if you need any assistance. I’m going out to get coffee and breakfast. I’ll be back soon!”

* * *

When Geoff came back, he saw a bleary Ryan tugging his duffel bag out to the living room. 

“Geoff, can you  _ please _ tell me what's happening.”

“I'm not exactly one to ruin surprises now, am I?”

“Geoff, do I have to remind you of the time the lads wanted to get me something for my three-month-anniversary of living here? Or do I not need to remind you of that shame?”

“Hey, how about you shut the fuck up and get in the shower?”

Ryan sneered at Geoff but followed his instructions and moved down the hallway. He passed Jack who gave the teen a sympathetic smile before she turned her attention back to Geoff. 

“Feel like filling me in now?”

Geoff cheerfully dug a bagel out of the paper bag he had brought back to the apartment. “Not really. You like the cinnamon bagels, right?” he asked, tossing the woman a bagel. “And I got you a coffee. Black, like your soul.” 

Jack rolled her eyes but stepped forward to accept the paper cup Geoff was offering her. “Why won't you tell me where we’re going? You’re not going to sell our organs or something, right?”

“Jack, how long have I known you? A decade? More? If I was going to sell your organs, you would know.”

“Geoff-”

“Don’t worry about it, Jacqueline-”

“That’s not what Jack is short-”

“-I’m confident you’ll understand where we’re going once we get to the airport. Until then, just enjoy the ride.”

As Geoff passed her to check in on the lads, he squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. She smiled at him and he smiled back. 

* * *

“Gavin, stop that.”

“But I’m  _ bored _ , Geoff.”

“Oh, and God forbid you’re ever bored.” Ryan sneered. Geoff noted that Ryan seemed to be more irritable due to the fact he probably got about three hours of sleep due to his fucked up schedule.

Instead of focusing on the snark, he put his hands on his hips and glared at Gavin who was hanging upside down from the metal railings that were keeping the lines of the bag check orderly.

“ _ Gavin _ ,” Geoff said in what he hoped was a warning tone. Gavin continued to hang and Jeremy slung a leg over one of the railings in an attempt to mimic the older boy. “Jeremy,  _ no. _ ”

“I got this, Geoff.” Michael moved towards Gavin and wrapped his arms around the others midsection.

“Micool!” Gavin began to flail his arms wildly, gaining annoyed looks from the other airport guests. 

Geoff stepped forward and pulled the boys apart, helping Gavin gain footing. “Why do you four insist on pushing me closer to death? You’re killing me, you know that right? You’re killing your father?”

Michael shrugged which was mirrored by both Gavin and Jeremy. “I don’t know,” the elder replied. “It’s fun.”

Geoff pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to Ryan to demand his excuse. What he found instead was an expression that told him the teen was deep in thought.

“Rye?” Geoff began, now worried. “What’s up?”

“It’s no big deal. You just said...” Ryan smiled shyly and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s nothing.”

Before Geoff could press further, Jack returned, several slips of paper in hand. A giant grin was plastered across her face and Geoff couldn't help but copy the look.

“I printed up the tickets,” she said.

“Did you figure it out?” Geoff smirked.

Jack shook her head and handed out the papers. “You’re absolutely ridiculous.”

“Orange County?” Ryan asked. “What’s there?”

Geoff’s smile grew wider. “Somebody very near and dear to my heart.”

The boys all looked confused and Geoff basked in their befuddlement.

“You’re all going to love it,” Jack promised. 

Michael lit up and turned to address Ryan as well as his fellow lads. “Guys, Jack doesn’t lie. This is going to be awesome!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out the Overboard playlist on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/1280476257/playlist/0Xba8JC4xJMCLAoJGBz5x6?si=zq4OsswQT_yNp3Pi4H67zw)!


	24. Jeremy's Flawless Adventures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryan threatens some children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need summer vacation to start.

Jeremy was slightly intimidated by the man white the white gloves and the plasticy looking black cap. He was holding a sign that said Ramsey and, even though he smiled when he saw them, Jeremy couldn’t help the butterflies that flitted in his stomach.

“Is that who you wanted to introduce us to?” Gavin asked, cocking his head.

Geoff laughed. “No, no. This is our chauffeur.”

“What’s that?” Jeremy asked. 

“Why don’t you go ahead and ask him,” Jack encouraged the youngest lad. 

Jeremy nervously approached the man, relieved that Michael and Gavin were following close behind.

“Um, excuse me, sir,” Jeremy began nervously. “I was wondering if you could tell me what a chauffeur is.”

The man smiled down at the kids patiently and explained, “A chauffeur is kind of like a personal taxi driver who drives a really fancy taxi.” Jeremy nodded even though he still didn’t completely understand. The ‘chauffeur’ extended his hand to shake Jeremy’s. “Mr. Ramsey, I presume,” he said after Jeremy finally took the stranger’s hand.

“Yes, sir,” Jeremy squeaked out nervously.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you. My name is Alfred. I-” The man cut off when he heard a sharp intake of breath come from Michael. 

“Wait, Alfred? Like Superman’s butler!”

Alfred quietly chuckled and gave Michael a wink. “Exactly like Superman’s butler.”

* * *

Geoff leaned against the check-in counter, Jack by his side. He was patiently waiting for the clerk to finish running him through their system and find the suite he had booked last week. 

“So,” Jack began, “What’s the plan?”

“Yes Geoff, what  _ is _ the plan?” Ryan sidled up next to the older man, an eyebrow raised in amusement. 

Geoff craned his neck around to see Jeremy and Gavin crowded around Michael on one of the lobby’s couches, watching him play some game on Ryan’s phone. He turned back to the teen and suspiciously asked what he knew. 

Ryan snorted and said, “Geoff, please. I’m sure there’s lots to do here. However, Anaheim is, of course, going to promote their main money-maker the best they can. Wasn't exactly hard to figure out what's here."

Geoff grinned. “Are you excited?”

“Real excited.”

~

“So,” Geoff brought his hands together. Everyone was gathered in the lad’s hotel room which was adjacent to the room he, Jack, and Ryan would be sharing. “Today is a pool day. I looked it up, and this place has  _ the _ nicest pool of all of Anaheim. Slides, structures, hot tubs, the works. After we spend a few hours at the pool, we’ll all come back here and take showers and relax for a few hours playing games, watching movies, etcetera. Finally, well head to the Packing District and eat until our insides explode. Tomorrow, we have to wake up early, so make sure you boys don’t stay up too late.”

Jeremy, who was seated on the floor, raised his hand.

“What’s up Lil’ J.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?”

“Good question,” Geoff nodded seriously before spinning out of the room without a proper response. 

* * *

Ryan laid in the sun, soaking in the rays and listening to music from a single earbud. He kind of wished he had one of those folding reflectors to complete the cliche.

Jack and Geoff had gone upstairs, claiming to be fearful of getting a sunburn, and Ryan decided he didn’t really want to know what they were actually doing in the hotel room. He glanced up again to track the lads and saw them splashing around near the shallow end, Jeremy not being comfortable enough to swim towards the deep end. Luckily, Gavin and Michael were understanding and were splashing each other or working on underwater handsprings. 

Ryan smiled and went to check his phone. There was a notification on the screen that the device was overheating and had to take a rest. He groaned but paused his music and threw his phone under his towel. Stretching and, with one last look at the lads, he headed towards the diving boards.  

“Look!” he heard Gavin call out. “Ryan’s going to get in the water! Ryan’s going to come swim with us!”

Ryan shook his head and snorted as he heard applause come from the lad’s section of the pool. 

On the edge of the diving board, Ryan made eye contact with the lads, gave an exaggerated bow, and did a front flip into the water. The pool was icy but Ryan enjoyed the sudden shock, floating underwater for a few moments before he broke the surface and began treading water.

“Ryan!” The teen turned to see Michael flipping over the dividing buoys to swim towards him in the deep end. “What the fuck Ryan? You were under there for ages. We thought you died!”

Ryan laughed at that. “I think it would take a little more than two seconds for me to drown.”

“Gavin thought you had hit your head on the board.”

“Good thing I didn’t.”

Ryan began to swim towards the shallower end of the pool when Michael called out, “Wait!” Ryan turned to see the lad reaching out to him. “Give me a piggyback ride back,” he demanded. Ryan rolled his eyes but tilted his head in a way that told Michael to hop on.

~

Eventually, Ryan got distracted with talking to a girl around his age. She was pretty, funny, and smart. They were sitting side by side in the shallow end, talking about colleges and their plans for the future when Ryan heard shouting erupt. He whipped his head around to see Michael and Gavin roughhousing with some older boys but the way they were shouting told him they were not happy. 

He motioned to the problem and the girl nodded in understanding as Ryan cut his way quickly through the water. He approached the group from behind and stood so the water came to a bit below his waist. He tried to look as intimidating as he could, arms crossed over his chest and a glare full of malice.

“What the  _ fuck _ is going on here.”

One of the kids turned and balked at Ryan. “Who are you?”

“That’s our big brother,” Michael grinned. “You guys are fucked!”

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Ryan snarled. “And where the hell is Jeremy?”

One of the kids who wasn’t attacking either Michael or Gavin guiltily brought his hands up in surrender allowing Jeremy up from where he had apparently been holding him under the water. Jeremy sputtered and gasped for breath causing fury to curl in Ryan’s gut. It must have shown on his face because all of the kids backed off. 

“We were just having fun,” one of them tried weakly.

Ryan said it - the word he heard Jack say when she refused to put up with bullshit. “Leave.”

The kids scattered and Ryan let out a breath trying to cool down his high temper. He turned to Jeremy and kneeled down so the water was chest level again. “Are you okay.” Jeremy nodded and Ryan turned to Gavin and Michael. “What about you two?”

Michael gave him a thumbs up. 

“We’re okay,” Gavin said. “We were trying to get them to stop dunking Jeremy underwater and things got a little heated. Thanks for coming to help us out, though.”

Ryan nodded. “Of course.”

“You can go back and hang out with your friend now if you want,” Gavin shrugged. 

Ryan looked between the girl and the lads before shaking his head. “Nah. I’d rather hang out with you guys if that’s okay.” Their eyes lit up and Ryan smiled. “So, what do you guys want to- Oh! Actually, do you guys know what a chicken fight is?”

* * *

Michael jolted awake as someone grabbed his arm. He relaxed as he realized it was just Jeremy before his concern grew at the terrified look on his face. 

“Did you hear that?” Jeremy’s voice shook. 

“What?”

Then Michael heard it. A shrill, whistling sound followed up by an explosion that sounded like a gunshot. 

“That’s a firework, Jeremy,” A now awake Gavin piped up from the top bunk. The room was organized in a way where Michael would be sleeping on a large couch and the other two would be in bunk beds, similar to how it was at home. “You’ve heard fireworks before.”

“Where are they coming from?”

Michael bit his lip and weighed his options. He finally decided that Jeremy’s terrified expression outweighed option number two. 

“Okay guys, listen,” he kept his voice low, forcing Gavin and Jeremy to lean in. “Geoff is obviously trying to keep this a secret, so you can’t tell him I told you this.” Jeremy’s eyes were wide with excitement and Gavin wore a bemused expression. “I heard from one of the kids at the pool today that we’re apparently in a part of Anaheim called ‘Anaheim Resort’. This part of the city is the surrounding area to Disneyland."

Michael watched the wheels turn in their heads and saw the moment the pieces clicked almost simultaneously in the younger lads’ minds.

“Geoff’s taking us to Disneyland tomorrow?” Jeremy squealed, his eyes lighting up with delight. “ _ The  _ Disneyland?”

Michael shushed him and whispered, “You’re going to have to act surprised. Geoff probably worked hard to keep this secret. You can’t let him know all his effort was for nothing.”

Gavin worked to wipe the grin off his face and Jeremy nodded eagerly in understanding.

“Anyways, now you know where the fireworks are coming from. Do you think you can sleep okay now?”

Jeremy let out a laugh he tried to keep as quiet as possible. “Michael, how could I possibly sleep now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm sure nothing bad will happen during the trip to Disneyland.
> 
> I can now tell you that the prompt my friend sent me was "DISNEYLAND!" If you have any prompts to send me, message me on Tumblr or leave them in the comments. 
> 
> Last two week grind before school is up. I wanted to post this before I drown in homework. Oof, I'm tired.


	25. Poetry or Censorship?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryan may be a little crazier than previously thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live, bitches!

“I hate these. They’re fucking nonsense.”

“Ryan, that’s two dol-”

Geoff cut off Gavin’s obligatory swear jar comment by responding to Ryan’s complaint. “You hate the idea of these. When other people have them, they’re total bullshit but when  _ you _ have fast passes, they’re nice as dicks.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow, unconvinced, but kept his protests under wraps.

“So,” Jack began, clapping her hands together, “where to first?”

“Tomorrowworld!” Michael enthusiastically called out. 

“It’s Tomorrow _ land _ ,” Gavin corrected.

“Who cares? I want to ride Space Mountain!”

Geoff blanched a bit at the suggestion. “Shouldn't we try out some other rides first? Work our way up to the faster-paced ones?”

“No! Let’s go right now! Please, Geoff?” Michael shot the man puppy dog eyes, his lead soon followed by Gavin and Jeremy. Even Ryan appeared to give a pleading expression, even though Geoff was pretty sure he was just doing it to be a brat.

~

“Why can’t we go again!” Michael whined, tugging on Geoff’s shirt tail. 

“Michael, I swear to God. We’ve already gone on Space Mountain twice now. If we go one more time, I’m going to vomit.”

~

Here’s the thing; Geoff liked to think of himself as hard to persuade, that doesn’t make the remark true. How could he bring himself to say no to Michael’s pleading face?

~

“ _ Attention Disneyland patrons! Due to... technical difficulties, Space Mountain is temporarily closed _ .”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Ryan gasped out through hysterical laughter.

“I  _ told _ you,” Geoff flushed red and kept his head down as the group made their way through the lobby of Tomorrowland. “I told you that if I had to go on that ride one more time, I was going to hurl.”

“So why did you?” Ryan snickered.

“Because the boys are fucking adorable!”

“We get it,” Jack cut in. “You’re weak. Whatever, who cares? Can we  _ please _ buy Gavin a new shirt so he doesn’t have to walk around all day gagging about the bits of stomach acid on him? We don’t need him to throw up too.”

* * *

“I’m tall enough to go on every ride here!” Jeremy’s delighted squeal warmed Geoff's heart, and when Gavin opened his mouth to protest, Geoff quickly pinched his nose closed drawing out a whine and distracting Gavin from his soul-crushing mission. 

* * *

“ _ Welcome, foolish mortals, to the haunted mansion. I am your host. Your  _ Ghost  _ Host... _ ”

“Gavin, you’re going to shit your pants!”

“Language, Michael,” Jack quickly jumped in. 

Michael rolled his eyes but corrected his sentence. “Gavin, you’re going to  _ crap _ your pants.”

“Better... I guess.”

“I am not Michael. I’m going to be so bloody brave you won’t  _ believe _ ! It’s Jeremy we should all be worried about.”

“I’m not scared! It’s going to go exactly like this: a ghost comes at us and  _ wham _ ,” Jeremy struck out, mimicking a right hook and narrowly avoiding Michael jaw, “One shot and the ghost is out.”

“Jeremy,” Gavin began, “you can’t punch a ghost. You can’t do that-”

“Hey, Gavin? Shut up.”

Eventually, the octagon shaped room of the Haunted Mansion was filled with people and the doors were shut behind the last of the patrons. The workers instructed everyone to step away from the walls and into the center of the room where the Ghost Host continued his monologue. As the painting of the various characters of the Haunted Mansion began to elongate and display more horrific images, the Ghost Host challenged the riders to find a way out of the windowless and doorless mansion. 

“ _ Of course _ ,” the narrator continued, “ _ there’s always  _ my _ way! _ ”

Thunder clapped and flashing lights drew the attention of the patrons to the ceiling of the Haunted Mansion where a skeletal body hung from a rope. 

As screaming filled the room, Geoff wrinkled his nose and muttered, “Kind of disturbing to put in a kids ride.” When he turned to see Jack’s reaction, he saw the woman leaning into Ryan, comforting hand on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. Geoff elbowed his way towards the pair and gently asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Ryan shook his head and smiled. “I’m fine.”

Geoff looked at Jack for confirmation who somberly mouthed the word,  _ Siris _ . Geoff was suddenly struck by how triggering seeing a hanging body must have been for Ryan. 

“We can head out if this isn’t your thing, Rye,” Geoff spoke carefully.

“Nah. It’s fine,” Ryan grinned. “Just jarring is all. I’ll be fine. We all have to see Gavin shit his pants after all.”

* * *

“But what about all the other rides like  _ It’s a Small World _ and  _ Splash Mountain _ ? We haven’t gone to any of those!”

“The park is closing, bud,” Geoff chided Jeremy. “We’ll go to all those rides when we come back tomorrow, don’t worry.”

“I don’t think we should go on It’s a Small World,” Ryan smirked. “I saw Michael and Gavin playing Five Nights at Freddy’s and I’m pretty sure neither of them would be able to sleep after seeing animatronics in real life.”

Gavin and Michael began to protest, both jumping as the sound of an explosion cut them both off. The group turned to watch as colorful lights lit up the sky above Disneyland’s scenic castle. The six stayed and watched until the finale before turning and exiting the park with promises of coming back tomorrow.

* * *

Geoff shifted in his sleep, reaching out and searching for the warmth of Jack’s body. When he couldn’t find her, he cracked open his eyes and stiffened when he saw Jack sitting up, arms raised in surrender. Geoff slowly turned to face the threat, only to come face to face with a silenced pistol. 

There were three intruders in the room, each with a gun pointed at one of them. One pointed at Geoff, one pointed at Jack, and one, across the room, pointed at a still sleeping Ryan. 

Geoff felt his heart clench at the sight but worked to force a nonchalant expression on his face. “What can I do for you dickwads?”

“We have eyes all over the hotel,” the one with his gun aimed at Geoff spoke. “Fast Passes. Chauffeur. This gigantic suite at one of the nicest hotels in Anaheim. It’s clear that whoever the fuck you are, y’all have money. We just want to check out one of your bank accounts and dip into that wealth a little bit.”

“Are you fucking idiotic?” Jack sneered at the robber. “You’re going to rob  _ us _ ? And not just physically, but electronically as well? Do you not _know_ how banks work?”

“We have it all planned out, you dumb bitch. I won’t bother explaining it to you, though. It won’t benefit you in the slightest.”

Jack frowned, processing the head thief’s words. “Was that a threat?”

“You tell me.”

“Why the  _ fuck _ would we help you if you’re just going to kill us anyway?”

“Because then my friend in the next room will spare the lives of the three kids in there.”

Geoff’s blood turned to ice and he saw Jack go pale. He quickly recovered, however, and tilted his head towards the bed across the room. “And Ryan? Will you spare him?”

The head thief looked over at the sleeping teen before shrugging. “I’m not sure. Depends on how good y’all are.”

That seemed to be it for Jack. She quickly lashed out, twisting the gun pointed at her out of the assailant's hand before shooting him between the eyes. She moved quickly, rolling off the bed and drawing the attention of Geoff’s gunman. While the head thief was distracted, Geoff rolled forward and - not flawlessly but successfully - gained his footing and put the robber with a big mouth into a choke hold. The man tried to reach around and shoot Geoff but Geoff was ready for this and wrenched the pistol out of the man’s grasp. 

“Stop!” a voice from the other end of the room shouted. The third thief, apparently female, appeared to have dragged Ryan out of bed and placed him in a headlock similar to the one Geoff had accomplished. She held a gun to the teen’s head and glared at Geoff as if daring him to make a move. Ryan’s face was stony and, even though his right hand was at the arm around his throat, his left arm was hanging limply by his side. 

“Take the kid and get out of here,” the head thief instructed his accomplice. “Kill him if you don’t hear from me in thirty minutes.”

“Like  _ hell _  we’re letting you take him!” Jack nearly snarled. 

“You don’t have much of a choice,” the head thief patronized. “You’re lucky we’re leaving with just one.”

Jack opened her mouth to object but a bone-chilling laugh sounded from behind her. Everyone turned their attention to Ryan, his deep laughter making him appear maniacal. “Oh, you foolish assholes. You really have no idea who we are, do you?”

~

It wasn’t clean. Ryan was precise but he wasn’t clean. It was shocking for Geoff and Jack to watch as he took out his captor. 

“Are the lads safe?” Ryan asked, wiping blood off the knife he had kept concealed until it was too late for his victim. 

Jack shook herself out of her trance and answered. “No. There’s one other person with them.”

Ryan nodded before gesturing to the head thief who was now pleading for his life and asking who the strangers were. “I’ll go take care of this other asshole, but you’re going to have to-” Ryan made a slicing motion across his neck, “-so I can get the advantage on the thief in the lad’s room without this guy raising the alarm. I think, unfortunately, we’re going to have to tell them that we’re headed home a day early.”

Geoff compiled and quickly shot the thief, silencing his frantic sobs. Ryan gave an affirmative nod and swiftly crept through the door that separated the lad’s room from their own. Geoff and Jack watched in a daze before Jack spoke up saying, “The life is fucking him up, Geoff.  _ Really _ fucking him up...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Hey guys. What time is it...?
> 
> The answer is summertime and I'm very happy about that.


	26. Giving into Supreme Aggravation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryan makes a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: bullying, transphobia

It was one of the rare days where Ryan, Barbara, and the twins were eating at school. They sat side by side in front of Alfredo and Barbara’s neighboring lockers. Barbara and Trevor were being disgustingly adorable while Alfredo and Ryan watched some Youtuber fail miserably at Rainbow Six Siege.

“Barb!” Someone called out to the group.

Barbara looked up and grinned wildly at a girl with short hair and glasses coming towards them. “Kdin? What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you graduated like, last year?”

The girl - Kdin - shrugged sheepishly. “I’m trying to recruit people to the GSA. Val’s running it this year and she needs some help with recruiting people. I had lunch off today and - oh! I actually don’t think we’ve met yet,” Kdin blinked in realization and turned to Ryan, extending her hand. “Kdin J, she/her pronouns.”

“Ryan,” he said, shaking her hand. “Uh... he/him pronouns.”

Kdin snorted and turned to address the whole group. “Are you guys at all interested in joining the GSA this year?”

“I really liked it last year,” Barbara began, “but now that I’m a junior, I don’t really have time for after school clubs this year-”

“Oh!” Kdin piped up. “No, they moved it to the Wednesday lunch period this year so more people could attend.

Alfredo shrugged. “I’ll check it out. Lunch tomorrow?”

“Yep! I’ll be around then too.”

“Sorry,” Ryan cut in. “But what’s the GSA?”

“Gay/Straight Alliances,” Trevor explained.

“Actually,” Kdin cut in again, “They changed the name to the ‘Gender and Sexuality Alliance’ so it’s more inclusive.”

Barbara grinned impishly “Did that happen to be Val’s idea?”

“Yeah," Kdin pressed a hand to her cheek, trying to suppress her blush. "She’s the best.”

As Barbara squealed and went on and on about how Val and Kdin were going to get married and live long happy lives together, a group of guys passed one of them speaking loud enough for the group to hear.

“Oh look. The freak is back.”

Kdin rolled her eyes and continued to talk to Barbara while Alfredo and Trevor flinched but didn’t give the bully any attention. Ryan, on the other hand, didn’t like his new friend being spoken to like that.

“Hey!” Ryan shouted, standing from his position against the lockers. “What the fuck, man? What’s your problem?”

“Ryan,” Kdin, began, gently pushing on his arm. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, Kdin. This asshole owes you an apology.”

“What the fuck did you call me?” The bully stepped forward, getting into Ryan’s face. Ryan took note on the fact the other boy had about two inches on him and was a little bulkier than himself.

Ryan held his ground. “You heard me, jackass. What gives you a right to treat people like that?”

“If he wanted to be treated as a person, maybe he should start acting like one.”

“Oh _shut the fuck up_. First of all, it’s not he, it’s she. Secondly, do you have any idea how fucking ignorant you sound.”

“Ryan,” Kdin tried again. “It’s really fine. Just drop-”

“I’m not ignorant. Queers like him aren’t right.”

“Hey man,” Barbara came to stand at Ryan’s side. “Back off. Seriously.”

“No,” Ryan said. He tried to keep his voice level but he was feeling aggressive and the comment came out shaper then he meant. “He owes Kdin an apology.”

“I’m not going to apologize to him. He should get right or just fucking kill him-”

* * *

 Ryan slouched in the plastic chair outside of the principal's office. Eventually, Jack came through the doors and tilted her head in the direction of the exit. The walked silently to Jack’s car and Ryan’s stomach clenched in discomfort.

They drove quietly for a while, Ryan staring out the window before Jack broke the silence. “You're suspended for a week, you know?”

“I know.”

“You sent that kid to the hospital, Ryan.”

“God, you make it sound like I almost killed him. It’s just a broken nose, he’ll be fine.”

“Why did you do it?”

“He’s a bigot and a bully,” Ryan turned away from the window to face Jack. “Not exactly a great combination. He told someone to kill themselves. It’d have been fucking bullshit if I just sat back and did nothing.”

Jack nodded slowly. Before continuing to drive in silence.

She pulled in front of the lad’s grade school and exited the car. She came back about fifteen minutes later, the boys all in tow.

“Why’d you pull us out early?” Gavin asked, frowning at Jack and Ryan.

Ryan tried to shrink away from three, curious gazes, slightly embarrassed about his situation.

“We’re going to go get some ice cream then see a movie.”

“What?” Michael asked suspiciously. “Why?”

“We all need a little break from bullshit.”

Jack was already passing back a dollar to Gavin before the lad could open his mouth and inform her she owed a dollar to the swear jar.

* * *

  **805-872-6326: Hey, it’s Kdin. I got your # from Barb. Just checking in to see if ur ok?**

**Ryan: Suspended :( but otherwise fine :)**

**805-872-6326: How’d ur parents take it?**

**Ryan: They took me out for icecream lol.**

**805-872-6326: Lol. You really didn’t have to do that you know. Im used to it**

**Ryan: That’s ducked up tho!!! You shouldn’t have to be used to it**

The next message Ryan received was an emoji of a duck.

**Ryan: Let me liiivvveee**

**805-872-6326: Lol. Srsly tho, theres more constructive ways to combat homo/transphobia than with your fists**

**Ryan: Yea, but will those ways be as satasfying for me personally?**

**805-872-6326: Satasfying**

**Ryan: Listen**

**Ryan: I have fat thumbs**

**805-872-6326: lol**

**805-872-6326: Hey Ryan...**

**805-872-6326: Thank you**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pride Month lads! The GSA was a large part of coming into how I identify in terms of sexuality. I wanted to transfer that into this fic in honor of pride month and it diverged in a pretty unexpected way :> Sorry it's kind of short.


	27. Threat Level Ryan?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I project onto my characters

Geoff was hunched over an extensive map of Los Santos when he started at a knock on the office door. 

“Come in.”

Ryan opened the door and entered the space slowly, eyes scanning the room. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, and adjusted his laptop he was carrying under his arm.

“What’s up, Rye?” Geoff asked, straightening up and smoothing out his wrinkled t-shirt. 

“I uh-” Ryan cleared his throat. “I have some... concerns. About this heist I mean.”

Geoff’s expression darkened, a mix of concern and professionalism. “How do you mean?”

“I just... I’m a bad hacker.”

Geoff let out a sharp laugh at that and shook his head. “Ryan, what the fuck are you-”

“I mean, I can, like, get the job done but...” Ryan set the laptop down on Geoff’s desk, scrubbing his hands over his face. “I was looking into the targeted gang and these guys are pretty dangerous. I’m talking a kill count that surpasses Rooster Teeth’s - Even the White Fang! I don’t...” Ryan glanced away and cleared his throat again. “I just don’t want to make another mistake.”

Geoff sighed and flopped down into the office chair, motioning for Ryan to do the same on the opposite side of the table. 

“What do you mean ‘another’?”

“You found me right?” the teen said, busying himself with pulling at his cuticles rather than making eye contact with Geoff. “Jack caught up to me after that gang I pissed off tried to kill me. Even before then, Campbell found out I was the one who stole from him and came after me. Three mistakes, two of which almost got me killed and one of which got Siris-” Ryan’s voice cracked and he finally looked up to face Geoff, eyes glossy. “With the kids... with you and Jack... there’s so much more at stake then there was when I was working by myself. I don’t want to risk it.”

Geoff was silent for a few moments, processing the words while Ryan took shuddering breaths, trying to calm himself down. 

Eventually, Geoff opened the bottom drawer of his desk and produced a warm can of diet coke he tossed to the teen. 

“I’m going to give it to you straight, Ryan,” Geoff began. “I have no clue how Campbell - whoever that is - caught up to you. From what you’ve told us, I suspect he was keeping tabs on Siris and when you got involved he was able to ambush you when he went to murder Siris. As for Los Santos, how we found you, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything in particular to tip us off.” 

Ryan’s eyes narrowed, and his eyes sent Geoff the message that he wanted the older man to continue to explain. 

Geoff smiled slightly. “We never did tell you how we came across your true identity, did we?”

* * *

The Lost had been creating trouble for Rooster Teeth for a while. That’s why it was so relieving when they were wiped out. What Geoff wasn’t expecting was for Miles to burst into the meeting room he and Jack were occupying three days later and announce that the story of The Lost wasn’t over yet. 

“They self-destructed.”

“That’s not surprising,” Jack said nonchalantly. “It happens with disorganized gangs all the time.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Miles agreed, “but then I had KT look into what caused them to implode and the majority of their issues seemed to be caused by a forced miscommunication.”

Geoff leaned forward and cocked his head to the side, frowning. “‘Forced’?”

“Kyle’s words, not mine. Anyways there was a little bit of a struggle within The Lost for power between two of their leading members. This tension was enhanced because it looks like all emails and texts had been intercepted and slightly modified to change the tone. The out messages on both sides were different from the messages being received. Additionally, phone calls between the two factions were blocked or rerouted.”

“So.. they were hacked?”

“Really fucking well. The variations were so slight, Kyle took forever to figure it out. It also looked like whoever was doing this knew how long it took for tension and irritation to rise before allowing communication to flow freely between the two leaders, no interference, no suspicion.”

“So what?” Geoff frowned. “What does that have to do with Rooster Teeth?”

“Kyle can’t track them down. It matches the style of a few other recent jobs so they may be working freelance as of right now. Burnie wants whoever this is on our side, lest they become a threat to RT.”

* * *

“Jack traced back to some of your older jobs, calling in favors and using threats to get the information. She finally got a lead related to the very first job you did. You asked to be paid in cash and asked for a runner to leave your cut in a dumpster. The group decided to take a few photos of you for future insurance. You took precautions, but group outlasted you, patiently waiting.

“When you came for the money they got a few photos of your face. Even though you were wearing glasses and a hat, there were still a few recognizable features such as your nose, skin tone, and stature. Jack got the pictures with little resistance and handed over to Kyle and Steffie - who work in different departments of Rooster Teeth - to see what they could dig up on you. 

When they got a fairly good match between the police report on your missing status in Georgia and your photos, they scoured Los Santos’ cameras looking for you and praying they could track your movements somehow. They were eventually able to pinpoint you and identify a regular route you took every few days from the store to what they assumed was your home.”

“That’s fucking insane!” Ryan shouted, arms raised in shock. “There are thousands of people in Los Santos! That must have taken an eternity to track me!”

“About a month, actually. RT is a pretty impressive company. Anyways, Jack and I took turns tailing you, looking for confirmation that you were the hacker we were looking for. When you got jumped by that rival gang in the alley, Jack decided that was enough proof for her.”

Ryan processed the information for a few moments before shaking his head. “Why? Why waste so many resources on me?”

“I told you why-”

“You were worried about me being a threat. I’m not worth the time it took to track me down.”

“You need to shut the fuck up with all that self-deprecating shit,” Geoff snapped, his tone becoming hard and serious. “You’re a good hacker, Ryan. Rooster Teeth is working on growth and I’m glad we have you on our team.”

“You sounded like you already had hackers, though. Wouldn’t it have just been easier if you killed me and eliminated a possible threat?”

Geoff slammed his hand down on the table causing Ryan to flinch and snap his head up in shock. Geoff stood from his chair so abruptly it was knocked backward onto the floor. “What  _ the fuck  _ is wrong with you, Ryan! You’re good at what you do and your learning and growing. Why does it sound like you’re trying to make me doubt you?”

“I’m not good enough, Geoff...” Ryan muttered so quietly that Geoff almost missed what he had said. “I bring trouble wherever I go and something always seems to go wrong. I want to work with you guys - I  _ need _ to work with you guys but I... I don’t want to put you in harm’s way.”

Geoff’s face softened and he walked around the desk, coming to lay a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Why do you feel like you need to work with us?”

“You... saved my life.”

“And you’ve saved ours.”

“I haven’t. If I hadn’t had been around, you guys wouldn’t have had to worry about me and you would have been able to better defend yourselves. I’m just in the way. A fucking waste of space.”

“Hey,” Geoff crouched so he was eye level with Ryan. “You don’t  _ owe  _ us, okay? We care about you Ryan, and if this isn’t something you want to continue, we’re here to support you. 

“If you really don’t feel comfortable doing this job, we can find someone else. We only ask you to do it because your skills are leagues above the people we have working on smaller scale hacking jobs part-time.”

Ryan didn’t respond.

“How long have you been feeling like this?”

“A while...”

“Jack and I are here for you, Ryan. If you start to feel like this again, come talk to us.” Geoff stood and nodded to the door. “Get some rest. Take some time to think. If you don’t want to do this job, we really won’t make you. Just let us know, okay?”

Ryan nodded quietly before standing and heading towards the door. 

“Hey Geoff,” he said, his back turned to the older man. 

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self-doubt Ryan is so sad :< Alexa play Despacito.


	28. Bubbles, Bouncing, and Brushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to flowerinthedessert on Tumblr for the awesome, fluffy prompt I got on the heels of the “Disneyland” prompt!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Wakes up from hibernation
> 
> Also me: Checks calendar
> 
> Also also me: “Shit”
> 
> Sorry about that unannounced two-month hiatus. There was a lot of shit going on that kept me from updating but we’re going to ignore those problems and just blame Fallout. I’ll hopefully be updating more often for this upcoming period of time.

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a charity event.”

Ryan was sitting in the front seat of the white sports car, phone limp in his hands as he tried to process Jack’s words. “I’m... so confused.”

“It’s not that complicated, Rye. Once a year Rooster Teeth does a charity event in one of the more unfortunate cities on the outskirts of Los Santos. We’re headed to achievement city this year and holding a free festival for the kids in the area.”

“Jack! Jack that’s fucking awesome!” Ryan fully twisted around so he could fully face her. “I know that what we do isn’t... redeemable... like, at all. _But_ this sounds amazing! It makes me feel like we’re doing more.”

Jack grinned while keeping her eyes trained on the road. “So, I’m going to take that as an ‘Oh Jack, I’ll do whatever I can to help make this event a success’ then?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Alright. Your job is probably one of the harder ones, but it should be pretty easy for you, if not a little time-consuming. We booked a bunch of entertainers and vendors and all we need is for you to do background checks on the organizations and the staff to make sure they’re all on the up and up.”

“I can do that.”

“Awesome. Thanks, buddy.”

“Hey, Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Is there going to be live music?”

* * *

 “This is the _coolest. Thing. I’ve ever seen!_ ” Gavin gazed in wonder at the floating white objects drifting into the air.

“You like them?” The assistant working at the booth smiled at Gavin and leaned down to get to eye level with the lad. Gav couldn’t help but take note of her light, British accent.

“How do they work?” Gavin tilted his head questioningly.

“Vegetable dye, helium, and soap. They form in the molds and people cut them off the mold to let them float into the sky.”

Gavin admired the makeshift bubbles that floated higher and higher into the stratosphere. Coming out in whites and soft pinks and blues, the “happy clouds” were a cluster of small bubbles molded and forced into the shape of a smiley face.

“I wanna be a scientist when I grow up.”

The assistant tilted her head, encouraging Gavin to go on.

“Then I can make things like this all the time!”

“Things that make people happy?”

Gavin grinned but was too overcome to answer.

“Do you want to make one?” The woman asked with a wink. “I don’t let just anyone cut the molds. You’re a special case.”

Even though Gav doubted that was true, the lad nodded eagerly. He watched the assistant give an example before taking the large metal baton and letting the bubbles rise well above the brim of the mold. He quickly but gently cut through the mixture of helium and oils releasing a thick blue “cloud” into the air.

* * *

Michael bounced up and down impatiently, constantly peering around the people in the line in front of him. He fought the urge to shove past the other excited kids and race to the brightly colored plastic palace ahead.

“Michael,” Ryan snorted, placing a hand on top of the child’s head to keep him from bouncing too much. “Calm your tits. We’ll get there as soon as they’re ready.”

“That’s a dollar.”

“What? Gavin, tits isn't a bad word.”

The brit scoffed in response. “Wot? In the same way ‘dick’ isn’t a bad word?”

“First of all, now you owe the swear jar a dollar. Secondly, dick is different. It can be used to describe a person in a rude way.”

“So what? I can use tits whenever I want to now and won't get in trouble? I’m going to say it all the time around Jack and see what she thinks.”

Gavin and Ryan continued their (nearly regular) back and forth until Jeremy finally decided to add his two cents of wisdom he had acquired from his six years of experience.

Michael ignored them and glanced around the short queue in front of him to see the rubber flaps of the bounce house being held open by the attendants. Waves of kids and teens pressed forward, rushing into the attraction. Michael joined the fray, jostled from all sides, before finally breaking out of the mass and in front of the castle. He kicked his shoes off and dove headfirst into the bounce house.

He stood on unsteady legs, taking in the colorful walls and listening to the screaming, laughter filled voices in the air around him.

Glancing to his left, he made a beeline for the obstacle course that led up to a steep, air-filled slide. A hand came down, gripping his arm and spinning the child around.

“What the hell, Michael? You can’t just go running off like that!” Ryan looked legitimately annoyed but his expression was undercut with... fear? Worry? Michael couldn’t tell.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so freaked out?”

“Michael-” Ryan cut himself off, taking a deep, calming breath. “I’m responsible for you. I’d be worried for you under normal circumstances. In our line of work...”

Michael softened, guilt taking over his mind. He hugged Ryan tightly around the waist. “I’m sorry, Rye. It won’t happen again.” Ryan hesitantly returned the embrace, assuring Michael that it was okay.

Jeremy, desperate to break the awkward air, tugged on Ryan’s pant leg, urging him to move the group to a more open space. “Bounce us, Ryan! Bounce us as high as you can!”

* * *

Colors. Jeremy loved them. He didn’t try to hide the smile on his face as he looked up at the blank canvas before him. Okay, canvas might have not been the right word. It was a large, exterior wall of an old AC warehouse that was covered in criss-crossing painters tape. The idea behind the mural was, at the end of the day, the organizers would peel off the tape and reveal the colorful, geometric patterns made by the participants of the day’s festivities.

“It looks like a 3D rendering of an MS paint... painting?” Ryan tilted his head taking in the extensive wall.

“What’s that?” Gavin asked, frowning at the selection of colors lined against the wall.

“Do you guys not have MS paint on your school computers? Your generation is so sad.”

Jeremy made a beeline for the purple paint, snatching up the brush resting on the rim of the can. There were a few people painting on the far right side of the wall so Jeremy started his design on the far left. The other lads followed, Gavin going for green, Michael opting for red, and Ryan selecting a shade of dark blue, the closest color he could get to black.

Jeremy concentrated on painting five adjacent triangles purple before going back and picking out a bright yellow.

“No! Gavin! Get out of here that’s my spot!”

“You can’t _own_ spots, Michael. You haven’t even started painting it yet.”

“I was going to paint that one orange and then yellow so it could match with your stupid green but now you’ve gone and made it look like a fucking Christmas hell!”

“Whoa,” Ryan stepped between the two lads before things could get too heated. “Calm down. This isn’t the end of the world.”

Michael ignored the older boy and whipped his paintbrush through the air causing a glob of red paint to land on the lad’s shirt.

“ _Mi-cool!_ ”

“Michael! Why would you do that? What was the benefit?” As Ryan scolded the lad who pouted alongside Gavin.

Jeremy ignored the argument and continue the broad, sweeping paint strokes in his corner of the mural.

Finally, Ryan came up with a solution, claiming that there were no rules that stated there couldn’t be multiple colors in one square. He outlined a pattern for Michael and Gavin to fill before hunching over and checking in on Jeremy’s work.

“Whatcha up to, Lil’ J?”

Jeremy grinned. “It’s finished.”

Ryan tilted his head and asked what it was. Jeremy just smiled at that abstract Spyro that was his little secret.

“Hey, Jeremy?”

“Yeah, Ryan?”

“Mind if I borrow that yellow and orange?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This past summer, Denver (the city I live in) had multiple events where people would come and try and make Denver a “happier” city. (I thought I would combine it with extra life and bring it to fanfiction life.) The bubbles and bounce house are straight out of the the event. This weekend is the grandoozy which is another event that consists of a huge musical line up and I’m going to cry I’m so excited. Thank you again to flowerinthedessert for the prompt on Tumblr. Sorry again for such the long hiatus. Send me prompts and I promise it won't take me months to fulfill them again.


	29. Robin Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best fox is Robin Hood and you will not tell me different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The website Ryan looks at in the end](https://www.diversitybestpractices.com/news-articles/22-lgbt-organizations-you-need-know)   
> 

The Robin Hood TV show was really, pretty bad. They didn't get very far into it, to be fair, but the production value left quite a bit to be desired and Ryan exited the stream when a bird’s death conjured distressed wails from at least two of the kids and a disturbed silence from another.

Jack and Geoff had been on a stakeout in some hotel for a little over a week and Ryan was finding it harder to keep the kids entertained and in line than he originally suspected. He underestimated how often Gavin badgered Geoff with innumerable questions and how much energy Michael actually had when Jack wasn't around to diffuse it.

He figured movies and TV would be the best way to waste time after school but it was hard to find films all the lads enjoyed, especially one that captured Jeremy's attention for an extended period of time. So Robin Hood was out but it did give Ryan an idea.

“How about we watch Robin Hood?”

“Ryan, that's what we were just watching, Ryan.” Gavin sounded so amazingly condescending that the teen was confused on whether or not he wanted to laugh at or scold the lad.

“I meant the Disney movie, _Gavin,_ ” Ryan said, already renting and setting up the film. “Now, get ready to watch a movie that made an entire generation question whether or not they were furries.”

The movie went incredibly well and Ryan kept in mind that cartoons apparently appealed to most kids. What he wasn’t expecting were the questions.

“Is that what we do, Ryan?” Jeremy asked innocently. “Steal from the rich and give to the poor?”

“Uh...”

“Of course that’s what we do!” Michael jumped up to stand gallantly on the couch. “We’re the good guys! Like Baby, and Deadshot, and Robin Hood!”

“ _Uh..._ ”

“Then why can’t we tell anyone what we do?” Gavin was smarter than Ryan sometimes gave him credit for. His eyebrow was cocked and he was staring at Ryan expectantly.

The other lads followed Gavin’s lead and Ryan began sweating under their questioning gaze.

“So...” He tried to organize his thoughts in a way that wouldn’t guilt the kids but not make them comfortable enough to go to school the next day and tell all their peers that their parents ‘stole from the rich and gave to the poor’. “We aren’t exactly the ‘good guys’ but we’re not... as bad as we could be.” The kids' silence spoke volumes. “We, uh... we look out for ourselves and do what we want. Some people judge what we do because it’s not... socially acceptable. But we only take out bad people and those who are a threat to us. So we aren’t selfless, but we aren’t crazy sociopathic murders. Does that make sense?”

The kids muttered in dissatisfaction and Ryan rubbed his hands over his jaw trying to figure out what to do.

“Listen. We aren’t Robin Hood, okay? That doesn’t mean we can’t be him for a day.”

* * *

Ryan located the perfect target the next day. He had skipped school and spent all day checking again and again that it was doable.

He borrowed a nondescript marron car from the garage and picked up the kids as soon as school got out. They sat in the back seat eagerly as Ryan passed out new hoodies, (red for Michael, blue for Gavin, green for Jeremy, and black for himself), and plastic bows with nerf darts to be used as arrows.

He drove up to a wealthier neighborhood and parked in front of a three-story beige house.

“I hate to say it kids, but we’re going to have to wait a while if we’re going to pull this off. However,” Ryan reached into his backpack and pulled out a stack of Uno cards, “I thought ahead.”

* * *

With the modified rules, the group was only able to play a round and a half before they ran out of time. Jeremy was in the middle of going back and forth with Ryan using all the reverse cards they had acquired when Ryan looked up and did a double take.

“It’s go time, lads.”

Ryan had actually got the idea for this heist from Kdin. Not that she did it on purpose but she had been complaining about these people for days in his time in the GSA. Two women, one wealthy through inheritance the other lavishly living due to her shady business. They were a couple and gave the appearance of the being activists in the queer community. The two had held a fundraiser last month to support LGBTQ+ youth but never ended up specifying an organization. They had raked in millions of dollars for charity but it was fairly obvious to all who knew about the event that not a single cent had gone to the proclaimed cause.

He always found it odd when people who had money scammed more. Even when Geoff and Jack did their business, he questioned the why behind it. He wasn’t complaining, though. Jack and Geoff did more than their fair of charitable work while taking credit for none of it.

Kdin’s words rung in his head ever since. “Believe it or not, lesbians can be evil too, Ryan.”

They were in a class high enough to have a security system and cameras on their property but not wary enough that it wasn’t easy for Ryan to hack. The moment the women walked out their front door - dressed in expensive fabrics for their dinner that they had planned in enough detail to put on both of their calendars - Ryan began hacking their security system.

The women stepped into their sleek black car parked on the curb and sped off. Ryan took a few more moments before he got access to the security cameras shutting them down. A few more moments and he was shutting down the alarms they had installed on their windows and doors.

Ryan didn’t know why Jeremy was the only one of them who knew how to pick locks, but he wasn’t about to start complaining. The stupidly smart six-year-old opened the front door with ease and stood by it triumphantly.

“Where did you learn how to do that, Lil’ J?” Ryan asked.

Jeremy just smiled in response and slipped into the house.

The interior was as dramatic and opulent as Ryan had been expecting. The molding on the walls and floor were plated with a golden material and the high ceilings were painted with extravagant murals.

Ryan rubbed his hands together and smiled impishly. “This is going to be fun.”

* * *

 “Grab anything of value” apparently was the equivalent of “grab anything that looks even a little shiny” to the kids. Ryan pulled the car into the garage and closed the door behind him. They loaded the trunk up with jewels, silverware, and a wide array of electronics before making their getaway a little over an hour later.

The drove to one of the many warehouses Jack and Geoff had placed around the island and left the car there before hailing a taxi and heading home.

* * *

 “So what are you going to do with the money, Ryan?”

Ryan paused from typing on his computer and grinned at the lads who were looking at him with large, curious eyes. “It will take a while to get the money without having to worry about it being traced back to us, but once we get it, we’re going to donate it to multiple charities.”

Gavin frowned. “What kind of charities?”

“I found this website which listed a few LGBT organizations who work to help the queer community,” Ryan shrugged, turning back to his work. “I figured it would be the best use of the money because that’s where people who donated to these assholes’ charity event thought the money was going towards. I know they’re not exactly ‘the poor’ but-”

“I think that sounds great, Ryan.” Michael was grinning widely, clearly proud of what they were doing. The other two lads nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The website Ryan looks at in the end](https://www.diversitybestpractices.com/news-articles/22-lgbt-organizations-you-need-know)  
>  They probably have really good insurance but it's still kind of a kick to the balls to go through the hassle of replacing all that stuff. Not to mention, Gavin and Michael were way too excited to have access to plastic and foam bows and arrows and broke A LOT of stuff. Also, take this moment to imagine the kids wearing little thief gloves. Adorable.


	30. Geoff's Fallen and He Can't... Not Get Arrested I Guess?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which new characters are introduced because we're definitely coming back to this story line

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically chapter 26 but it says chapter 30 at the top and HOLY SHIT. For a one-shot, it's gotten quite long.

Geoff fell. He fucking tripped over his own feet and hit the ground hard. The shotgun he was carrying skittered away from him and the duffel bag full of jewels and cash only served to drag him down and make his landing all that more painful.

“Geoff!” Ryan turned back to help the older man to his feet and before Geoff could yell at him and tell him not to be fucking stupid, they were surrounded.

“Down on the ground! Get down on the _fucking_ ground! Now!”

Geoff made his way into a kneeling position and quickly surveyed the scene around him. Ryan was leveling his shotgun while the police responded by aiming their own weapons at the two criminals. They were outnumbered; eight to two. There were more police vehicles racing down the street, their sirens echoing off the walls. The cops were angry and intense. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they were trigger happy as well.

Geoff reached out and yanked on Ryan’s arm. The teen was wearing a black skull bandana around his face and sunglasses, (in addition to his temporary black hair), but Geoff could still tell the teen was shocked.

“Drop your weapons! We _will_ shoot you!” A cop screamed.

“Do what they say,” Geoff's voice came out clear and calm.

The older man could feel Ryan’s arm tremble and he knew the kid was terrified. “But-”

“Just trust me, Rye.”

Ryan hesitated before relenting and throwing his gun down on the ground. He laced his hands behind his head and began to get on his knees but was shoved flat on the ground by one of the several cops who took this opportunity to push forward. They pressed the two thieves flat against the ground so their faces were embedded with stones on the asphalt. A pained grunt came from Ryan causing Geoff to wince in sympathy.

“Hey!” Geoff growled. “Take it easy!”

“Shut up,” the police officer restraing him snapped. He tightly cinched the cuffs around Geoff’s wrists before roughly pulling him to his feet. “You’re lucky you’re not dead,” the cop hissed in Geoff’s ear. “After all the shit you’ve pulled, Ramsey, you deserve a bullet between your eyes.”

“Then why-”

“Are you still alive? I hear the death penalty is almost a guarantee for you. The first execution in California in nearly 12 years. Should make some sort of statement.”

Geoff felt his mouth go dry. He tried to maintain a calm demeanor but when he looked over at Ryan - who was at least getting his rights read to him - he felt his stomach sink.

The cop must have followed his line of sight. He leaned in again to snarl at Geoff some more. “And to think, you roped some innocent kid into this. He’s what? Seventeen? You should feel ashamed. He’ll be tried as an adult and is going to spend the rest of his life in prison now.” As if on cue, Ryan’s bandana and sunglasses were confiscated and revealing his face. “At least he’s a good-looking kid. He’ll at least survive in prison as some bastard’s bitch.”

Geoff clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth might break. “I just want you to know when I get out of this - and I will get out of this - you’re fucking dead.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Ramsey. This is the end of the line for you.”

* * *

Ryan sat solemnly in the back of the cop car. He was trying his best to conceal his face with his hair but it was proving difficult. He wondered if when he got out of this, what he would have to do to hide his identity. Hack and delete all footage from the crime that night then have Geoff use his resources to pay off the criminal sketch artist that would be taking the cops’ accounts of his face. Almost anyone in this city could be bought.

As he was thinking through these next steps, a dark voice crept into his mind. _What if you don’t get out of this._ Ryan shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought but it stuck. _You have no idea what happened to Jack and no one else at Rooster Teeth knows what’s going on. You’re fucked._ Ryan stewed in his misery while the pigs in the front seat laughed as something one of them had said.

Ryan jolted forward and hit his head on the dividing mesh when the driving cop slammed on the brakes. “What the fuck!” she yelled. Ryan readjusted himself so he could see what was going on. A blond haired kid was standing, frozen in the middle of the road, green eyes wide.

_Gavin?_

“I’ll check it out,” the passenger cop said. He got out of the car and moved to talk with Gavin who was very clearly sobbing. The driver hummed nervously and looked from side to side quickly. She couldn’t react in enough time, however, to the large white van careening towards her side of the car. 

* * *

Jack burst out the driver’s side of the van and quickly shot the cop talking to Gavin in the face before he could draw his weapon. The cop in the front seat was unconscious at least. Whether she was dead or alive, it didn’t matter. Gavin ran back and jumped into the back of the van while Jack sprinted around the side of the broken police cruiser and wrenched open the door to the back seat. Ryan looked up at her, dazed as she helped him out of the car and to the van. There was a cut above his eyebrow that was bleeding heavily causing Jack’s stomach to churn.

“Where’s Geoff?” Ryan muttered, clearly struggling to make comprehensive sentences.

Jack helped him into the back of the white van where Gavin and Michael were waiting with matching anxious expressions.

“Don’t worry about Geoff,” Jack murmured soothingly. “He’ll be taken care of.” 

* * *

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Matt Hullum was less than a year older than Geoff but was speaking to him as a parent would speak to a child.

Miles leaned against the back wall, arms crossed, appearing professional but not at all interested in the conversation.

“Are you sure you should be yelling at me like that? With the cameras and everything?” Geoff smirked and motioned up towards the security camera planted in the wall.

“KT’s already got a video loop running and will corrupt the audio files when we’re done here so it’s not too suspicious,” Miles assured the older men.

“Great,” Miles smiled cooly. “That’s great news. It means I can beat the fucking shit out of Geoff and no one would be the wiser.”

“Listen, Hullum,” Geoff laughed nervously. “There’s no need to be hasty.”

“Nearly twenty years and you’ve never been caught. Why now? Why during such a low stakes heist?”

“I guess I’m just getting too old for this shit,” Geoff shrugged.

“Goddammit, Ramsey. You’re going to be the end of me.” The police captain sighed heavily before taking a seat and pulling out his phone. “I’ll contact Burnie. We should have you out of here in a day or two. Think you can survive the holding cell for that long?”

Geoff grinned cheekily. “I love you to death, Matt Hullum.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Aboard will be taking a month-long hiatus while my new work, Mikey Horror Picture Show, is releasing chapters. There will also be a none cannon chapter on Halloween about the lovely experience of Trick or Treating in Los Santos. Happy Halloween!


	31. This. Is. Hal-low's Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If AH can post Halloween content in November, why can't I? What? What's that? Double standard? Never heard of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out a lot fluffier than intended.

Ryan was barely able to wake up the morning after Halloween. The fact the fucking holiday fell directly in the middle of the week was torture. Blatant torture. 

He turned off the alarm he had set for school and rolled back over, but was briefly startled by black smears on his sheets. His brain made the connection and he groaned. He had let the lads pain his face for Halloween and they ended up collaborating on a black and white skull. 

He actually liked the design when he first saw it. It made his blue eyes look intense and the way his face was shaped made the face paint look fairly intimidating rather than cartoonish. The only unfortunate part was the fact he had apparently forgotten to wash his face before bed so his sheets paid the price. He would have to wash them... just not right now. 

He pulled the covers tighter around himself and smothered his face in a pillow. He slowly faded into unconsciousness once again, planning on sleeping in until noon. 

* * *

“He’s going to be late to school,” Jack murmured into Geoff’s chest. “They all are.” The two were holding each other closely, struggling to stay awake. 

“Let them sleep. One missed day of school won’t hurt anybody.” Geoff ran his fingers through Jack’s fiery hair, working free knots.

Jack hummed happily before sitting up and brushing her hair out of her face. “I have to head out real quick. Need anything?”

“Where are you going?”

“Just the corner store.”

“Oh. In that case, the contents of the register.”

Jack snorted. “No. Anything else?”

“Coffee...”

* * *

Michael woke up when a boney hand hit him in the face. He rolled over and saw Gavin sleeping next to him, hogging half the bed. He glared at the other lad and nearly pushed him off the mattress, but restrained himself, remembering the night before.

Ryan, Jeremy, Geoff, Michael, and Gavin had all stayed up ridiculously late watching classic - and not age appropriate - scary movies. It had been Ryan’s idea, Geoff voting adamantly against it, but the lads wouldn’t relent. They hadn’t even gotten through  _ Psycho _ before Geoff made some lame ass excuse and turned in early, warning the kids to go to bed after the movie was over. 

Jeremy was able to persuade Ryan to let them watch one more movie and none of them had seen  _ Rosemary's Baby _ before, so they watched that. 

Unfortunately, Ryan had fallen asleep, stretched out in the plush armchair, leaving the lads huddling under a shared blanket and the remote under the control of Michael. 

_ A Nightmare on Elm Street. The Blair Witch Project. _ Ryan finally woke up towards the beginning of  _ Friday the Thirteenth _ , angry that the lads were still up at three am, but way too tired to give a fuck. They all headed off to bed, crashing almost immediately. 

Michael jumped when he was shaken awake just a bit before four. Gavin peered down at his brother who was glaring back. But there were tears in Gavin’s eyes and Michael’s initial annoyance turned to concern.

“I can’t sleep, boi. What if Freddy comes for me in my dreams?”

“Gav,” Michael rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his slightly blurry vision, “Just don’t be afraid. That’s how the lady at the end of the movie defeated Freddy, right? She wasn’t afraid of him?”

“But then he came  _ back _ , Micool.” 

The older lad sighed, moving over on his bed. “You can sleep here for tonight. I’ll protect you from Freddy. I promise.”

* * *

Jack quietly re-entered the apartment, brown grocery bag tucked under her arm. She set it down on the breakfast bar near the four, small jack-o-lanterns. She admired them, laughing lightly at how easily she was able to associate each pumpkin with each of her kids. 

Michael tried his hardest to make his pumpkin scary. However, he insisted on carving it himself and - with the slanted eyes and gaping maw - he only succeeded in making it look vaguely like an angry kitten. 

Jeremy had asked for Ryan to look up a picture of Toasty from  _ Spyro _ . He tried hard to capture the derpy expression and Jack ended up having to go searching for a tall black hat which the pumpkin currently donned. 

Gavin’s was pretty simple with a semicircle mouth and eyes that were just empty holes. Pumpkin carving wasn’t really his thing. 

Ryan had almost,  _ almost _ , succeeded in making his pumpkin scary. The rub was the fact he focused on the mouth first and the numerous teeth he had included stretched the pumpkin to thin a bunch of the middle front teeth broke off so Ryan gave up on scary and just instead opted for nerdy. He filed down the teeth and carved glasses, leaving streaks in the middle of the eye holes to make the spectacles more obvious. 

Once the carving was done, they had two massive bowls of pumpkin guts and seeds and two very different opinions on what to do with them. Geoff and Jack argued about it for longer than it should have taken before turning it into a competition. Geoff's savory family recipe versus Jacks sweet homebrewed concoction. The one who got the most votes from the kids would be declared the winner and the loser would owe them twenty bucks.

Of course, the lads talked beforehand and the competition ended up in a draw. Sitting next to the sink were two saran wrapped bowls of “equally pleasant” pumpkin seeds. 

Jack shook her head fondly at the memory before picking up the grocery bag again and heading to the lad’s room. 

Jeremy was disappointed when he was told they had to leave the neighborhood they were trick-or-treating in because it was too dangerous to stay out past dark in Los Santos. He couldn’t help but feel like it was his fault because he was so young. He felt guilty Michael and Gavin had to go back home early because of him with - in his opinion - a pitiful amount of candy. 

It was a similar feeling to Christmas morning when he woke up and saw the trick-or-treating buckets the lads had put on their desks and bedside table overflowing with king-sized chocolate bars, spilling onto the floor and pooling around the table’s legs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus: Gavin had been pretty happy with his haul during trick-or-treating the night before. Carefully, without letting the adults or the other lads know, he stuffed his pockets with an entire bowl’s worth of “just take one” candy. When they got home, he shoved the jacket far underneath the bunk bed he shared with Jeremy. He just hoped the rats wouldn’t find it before he got to dig in.


	32. Pulse

Ryan watched in horror as Yoshi passed Flutter’s shop on screen. Michael bought  _ another _ gold pipe, snatching the Mario Party win Ryan had locked down for the first time ever.

Michael laughed maniacally while Jeremy yelled out in protest. Gavin leaped over the back of the couch, sprinting down the hall screaming. Ryan jumped to his feet, preparing himself to owe the swear jar a fuck ton of money. The sound of shattering glass interrupted their antics. 

Ryan felt like someone was shoving him off his feet as a tearing sensation ripped through his arm. Things seemed to slow as his body was whipped around. He saw Michael reaching out to him, horror in his eyes, as the back of Ryan’s head hit the sharp corner of the coffee table and darkness enveloped him.

* * *

“Oh my God! Seriously?” Jack pulled the sleeve of her jacket over her hand and covered her nose and mouth.

“I'm  _ sorry _ ,” Geoff tried to sound sincere, but all intention was lost in his fit of giggles. “Beans make me gassy.”

“You're disgusting,” Jack groaned. “We haven't even made the tacos yet.”

“It's a proximity thing. I can't-”

Jack held up a hand, effectively cutting Geoff off mid-sentence. She stared - horrified - at the splintered door frame. She set her grocery bag down and pulled out her pistol from the waistband of her pants. She glanced back at Geoff and saw him mirroring her, his face a mask of intensity.

Jack pushed the door open with the toe of her boot before checking her corners. She scanned the room taking in the perforated window and overturned furniture. She froze when she saw feet peeking out from behind the blood splattered couch. She cautiously but quickly approached the body and felt her heart stop when she saw who it was.

She dropped to her knees, gun skittering out of her grasp as she turned Ryan from lying on his side his back. His arm lied limp over his stomach and his eyes were closed. There was blood tangled in his hair and painted across part of his face while a section of the blanket that usually resided on the couch was cinched around his bloodied arm. 

“Oh fuck!” Jack turned to see Geoff's fingers tangled in his dark hair. “Oh fuck. Fuck! Ryan!”

Jack turned back to the teen and pressed her fingers against his neck, searching for the steady thump of his pulse.

“I can't find it, Geoff,” She sobbed. “Fuck. Geoff. Fuck I can't find his pulse!”

Geoff shoved her aside and she fell back on her ass, shock and dreed running through her system. Geoff was crying, she noticed. Tears fell onto Ryan's cheek. He pressed his fingers into the teen's neck just as she had but with more force behind it. 

Finally, he let out a breath and pressed his forehead against Ryan's. “It’s there,” he whispered. “His pulse is there, but just barely.” Geoff moved into action slinging Ryan’s arm around his shoulder and hauling the kid up to his feet. “We have to get him to Jon.”

“Geoff...” Jack murmured. She choked back a sob before continuing. “Where are the lads?”

* * *

Jeremy was crying and Gavin hadn’t said a single word. Michael was barely conscious but he wished he was completely under. The amount of shame and anger he felt was nearly too much to bear. He tried - by god he _ tried _ \- to get Jeremy and Gavin out of harm's way, and he had failed.

_ The glass shattered and Jeremy let out a scream while Michael stood, frozen. Ryan looked confused more than in pain, but the blood splatter was immense, painting the front of Michael’s shirt. The lad jumped into action when he realized what was happening. He reached for Ryan but the older boy hit his head on the coffee table and bounced, falling the rest of the way to the ground.  _

_ “Jeremy!” Michael screamed over the panicked shouts of the younger. “Jeremy, go find Gavin. Take the fire escape out of Geoff and Jack’s bedroom. Run away, okay?” _

_ Jeremy looked like he was going to protest, but a hard look from Michael shut him up and he sprinted down the hall after Gavin.  _

_ Michael struggled to drag Ryan behind the couch, out of the line of sight from the window. He snatched a blanket off the back of the sofa and tore the fabric, tying it tightly around Ryan’s pierced arm.  _

_ He thought about running too. Leaving Ryan and hoping for the best, but he needed to buy Jeremy and Gavin time. Besides, he couldn’t just leave Ryan there. So Michael stayed and he fought. _

* * *

Jack drove like a mad woman through the streets of Los Santos. It had been a while since Geoff had seen her in such a frantic and reckless state. He was in the shallow back seat of the sports car on a phone call with Jon. Geoff and Jack had tried their best to make the passenger seat into a makeshift cot which Ryan occupied.

“What’s the bleeding like?” Jon asked, his voice steady. Geoff heard the sound of clattering tools on Risinger’s side. 

“Uh... I don’t know. There’s a lot of blood...” Geoff shook his head, struggling to focus. Ryan laid in the passenger seat unmoving and it was jarring to Geoff just how  _ dead _ he looked.

“Is it a steady pulse? Is it spurting? Is it a dark or bright red? What does it look like, Geoff?”

“Oh fuck. It’s uh... It’s a dark red I think. I don’t want to remove the tourniquet so I don’t know if it’s spurting or not!”

“Geoff,” Jon’s tone was gentle but stern, “calm down. If it’s dark and pulsing then it’s probably not an artery. You just have to work on slowing the bleeding as much as you can. He’s not conscious is he?”

“No, and I don’t know why!”

“Stop yelling! There could be a bunch of reasons. As long as he’s breathing and you’re trying your best to stop the blood flow, he’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Shut the fuck up, Geoff. I’m good at what I do. Now just get your ass over here.” Jon trailed off on the other end of the line. His voice was softer when he spoke again. “I have to call in some support. It’ll be okay, Geoff. I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

_ Gavin had been doing an okay job leading Jeremy away from the penthouse. They hid behind dumpsters and weaved in and out of alleyways, headed towards Barbara’s house.  _

_ Gavin jumped when he heard his phone buzz in his pocket. His first thought was to throw the device away, but the caller idea read “Michael” and that gave Gavin pause. He answered tentatively and choked back a sob when he heard Michael’s cries of pain.  _

_ “You better get back here, boy,” a deep voice said over the shouts from Michael. “We’ll find you eventually. We know where you’re headed. Don’t make this harder for your friend than it has to be.” _

_ “I-” Gavin swallowed, trying to steady his voice. “No. That’s not what Michael would want.”  Gavin hung up the phone and threw it in the dumpster him and Jeremy were standing next to. “Let’s keep moving, Lil’ J.” Gavin tried to sound reassuring. He tried to sound brave for the younger lad, but that didn’t help the sick feeling Gavin felt in the pit of his stomach. He wanted them all to make it out alive, but he was deeply fearful that Michael would never forgive him if they did. _

_ ~ _

_ They made it three more blocks before they were caught. Their wrists were bound and they were thrown into a nondescript white van. Michael was there, lying bloodied and broken. Bruises were already starting to form on his pale skin.  _


	33. Burst

Jack was holding Ryan’s hand in her own. She sat next to his cot, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. They knew the risks. They all knew the risks. This was different though. Jon was able to figure out that Ryan had abruptly stood right as the sniper was taking the shot. If he had been a second slower, he would be dead. It hadn’t been Ryan’s first brush with death. Before they even met him the little bastard seemed to be danger prone. Jack was just getting fed up with her inability to protect her boys.

“Jack.” She turned to see Steffie - freshly dyed blue hair - standing in the doorway. Her expression was somber and sympathetic which only managed to make Jack feel worse. “Burnie is meeting with Geoff. I think you need to get back to headquarters.”

Jack looked back at Ryan and shook her head. “I don’t want to leave him alone...”

“That’s... the other thing...” Steffie cleared her throat awkwardly and moved forward, placing a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Burnie thinks we should move Ryan, Barbara, and Lindsay out of Los Santos.” Jack stiffened. “They were clearly targeting your kids. It’ll just be for a little while...”

“I-” Jack wanted to protest. She wanted to scream that Ryan would only be safe with her watching over him. But she was smarter than that.

“Where will you take him?”

“Sarah offered to host them at her parent’s cabin up past Mount Chiliad. I’ll be accompanying them along with Jarren.”

Jack said nothing.

“I’ll keep him safe, Jack. I promise. You need to work on finding the lads and taking down whoever is behind this. I don’t think Geoff can do it without you.”

Jack scrubbed her face and sighed. “You’re right. You’re right.” Jack leaned back and looked at the ceiling. The fluorescent lights flickered making her feel like she was trapped in some horror movie or thriller or something. “I need to give you something before we part ways. I want you to pass it onto Ryan when he wakes up.”

“Whatever you need, Jack.”

* * *

Jeremy’s heart was beating a mile a minute. Thick zip ties dug into his wrists as he sat strapped down in an uncomfortable wooden chair. The room reminded him of a more rundown version of his classroom. Projector in the corner, two plastic fold-out tables littered with guns and knives... A lanky man with slicked-back brown hair was leaning against the wall near the door, his eyes shining with an intent that made Jeremy’s stomach churn.

“Nothing to say?” the man sneered at Jeremy. “Quick tip, if you want to survive in this world, keep that trait. Your brother - Jones was it? He’s not going to last. Although, I have no idea what Torchwick’s plans are. We were supposed to hand you over immediately but I decided it would be a bit more fun if we hung out for a while beforehand. Chatted, got to know each other, made prank phone calls.”

The door swung open to reveal the lanky man’s partner. His shoulders were broad and his dark hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. His skin was dark but a pale scar crisscrossed his face in the shape of an ‘x’.

The man with the x on his face tossed a phone to his partner - _Michael’s_ phone.

The brown-haired man smiled. “I think we’re ready.”

* * *

Jack looked terrible and Geoff was pretty sure he looked like absolute shit too. She offered him a weak smile as she practically collapsed in the chair next to him. They sat around an oval table in the board room. Kyle Taylor and Elyse Willems occupied one side while Burnie stood at the head, a map of Los Santos spread out before him.

“Catch me up to speed,” Jack spoke, addressing Burnie. Geoff couldn’t help but admire how collected she sounded.

“I have my team searching for clues back at and around the penthouse,” Burns replied. Nodding towards KT he said, “Hullum has the LSPD on the hunt. The amber alert has already been pushed out and he’s trying to do what he can without raising too much suspicion.”

“FunHaus has eyes on the city limits so if anyone tries to move the kids out of Los Santos, our support team will alert us and we’ll take them out,” Elyse explained with a gentle smile.

“The rest of us are splitting up. I was thinking you and Geoff -” Burnie trailed off when Geoff’s phone began to ring.

Geoff pulled out his phone and felt his heart drop when he saw who was calling.

* * *

“You there, Ramsey?” The brunet sounded bored as he held to phone out in front of him.

“You,” Geoff’s voice finally came through. “You’re the one who took Ryan.”

“I didn’t exactly take him. I just tortured him. Hard kid to break. Wish I had more time with him. I bet you do too, huh?”

Geoff was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. “Where are my kids?”

“I can assure you that Dooley and Free are completely fine. I can’t exactly say the same for Jones but he’s alive if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Felix, right? What do you want? To discuss ransom? Fine, let’s discuss-”

“‘Felix, right’,” the lanky man - Felix - mocked as he strode around the room. “Man, you really _don’t_ remember me do you Grif. I suppose that’s fair enough. I’ve lost some weight, gained a few scars and I most certainly am not hiding behind that piece of shit helmet anymore. Still, I’m a little offended you don’t recognize my voice.”

There was silence on the other side of the line again but when Geoff’s voice came back this time, it somehow sounded even darker than before. “Issac. Issac fucking Gates.”

“Ding ding ding! Wow. You _are_ more than just a pretty face, Grif.”

“You should be dead. I watched Griffon _kill_ you.”

“Well that freelancer bitch didn’t do a very good job now, did she?”

“Let the kids go. They have nothing to do with this.”

“But they have everything to do with you.” Felix stopped pacing and towered over Jeremy.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t _want_ anything, Ramsey. I’m just doing my job. Actually, that’s not entirely true.” Felix pulled something that looked like brass knuckles from the inside pocket of his shirt. He fit them over his fingers and switched them on, white blue electricity flickering between the barbs. “I want you to suffer.”

* * *

Jeremy’s pained screams came through the phone speakers loud and clear. Jack had her palm pressed against her mouth so hard she could feel her teeth cutting in. She wanted to leave the room and cry and scream and track Felix down so she could rip out his throat herself. But couldn’t leave Geoff alone.

“Stop!” Geoff shouted, his voice cracking “Stop! Please!”

Felix laughed, a sound that chilled Jack down to the bone. “This is all I want, Ramsey. Nothing you can say or offer will change my mind.”

“Geoff...” Jack chocked back a sob as Jeremy’s voice came through the speakers, small and afraid. “Geoff, he’s lying, right? Michael said Ryan’s okay. Ryan has to be okay! Geoff!”

“Jeremy, I-” Geoff began but didn’t get to finish his sentence. The call ended abruptly. “What?” Geoff shouted. “No! No, no, no, no, _no!”_ He frantically redialed Michael’s number and pressed the phone to his ear. “Fuck!” He turned to KT, blue eyes wide. “Did you get that? Do we have a location?”

Kyle shook his head, glaring at his screen. “I’m sorry Geoff. This says they’re someplace in Vancouver. I couldn’t dial it in.” He looked up at Geoff, expression solemn. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re shit at this!” Geoff yelled. “Ryan would be able to find them no problem! He -”

“Geoff, stop.” Jack’s voice came out more gently than she was expecting. She approached Geoff and wrapped him in a tight embrace. “We’ll find them. I promise you. Turning on each other now is the last thing we need to do.” She felt Geoff shaking against her body. Whether it was from rage or tears, she couldn’t tell. “We’ll find them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello, hello. As I said on Tumblr, (go follow me on Tumblr), I would like to create a backlog for future chapters but I’m feeling a bit uninspired so if you have anything you would like to see feel free to message me or comment it on the story. Sorry for the delay, just took me a while to get back into it!


	34. Metallic

Ryan awoke to soft sheets and golden light flitting through a window above the bed’s headboard. His mouth was dry and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. He pushed himself up into a sitting position but the moment he put pressure on his left arm, a sharp pain shot through his forearm and up to his shoulder. He let out a surprised and pained yelp, clutching his shoulder with his opposite hand and holding it against his body. 

When the pain subsided, he looked around his room taking in every detail he could. It was simple with a desk, a thick rug, and a bedside table. It was nice but disconcertingly clean. He looked towards the door and noted the clean clothes set on the floor. He forced himself to get out of the bed, ambling to the opposite side of the room. He changed into the clean clothes, throwing his dirty ones into the corner of the room. When he got to the shirt, he hissed in pain as he inadvertently jostled his arm.   

He shook his head, trying to clear the lingering fog, before opening the door and moving out of the room. The hall was just as immaculate as the room was but there was at least a new sound aside from the electrical ambiance. He followed the bubbly music towards the end of the hall, before entering a living room. 

“Ryan!” The teen cried out in pain as he was tackled in a bear hug, his injured arm being knocked around in the process. “Sorry,” his assaulter said, quickly releasing him. “Sorry. I’m just - I’m so happy you’re  _ alive _ .” 

Ryan turned and frowned in confusion. “‘Fredo? What the hell?”

Alfredo, watched Ryan, anxiously shifting from foot to foot. “Hey, Ryan...”

“What the hell is happening right now? Why are you here? Where is  _ here _ ?” Ryan looked around the room to see a few familiar faces but a couple of unfamiliar ones as well. Trevor and Barbara sat next to each other at a breakfast bar while Lindsay sat on the floor in front of a T.V. with a boy who looked a bit younger than her with longish dirty blond hair. On the couch, there were two teenage girls, one with light blonde hair and the other with dark hair and green eyes.

“Ryan...” Barbara stood, speaking gently her voice filled with relief and concerned. She came over the other teen and wrapped her arms around him tightly, being more careful with his injured arm than Alfredo had. 

Ryan hugged her back before releasing her to look her in the eyes. “What the hell is going on here, Barb?”

* * *

Michael laid curled in the corner of the freezer. His arms were wrapped around his legs trying to preserve warmth on the cold metal floor. His glasses were gone and he didn’t realize how much he needed them until he saw how blurry everything seemed to be. 

Jack was the one who got him glasses. They were playing Minecraft together and she realized he couldn’t read the hud very well. She took him in for an eye exam even though he complained about how only nerds wore glasses. She said it was important to be able to see and, if he wore them every day, she would consider buying him contacts when he turned fourteen. She showed him pictures of when she wore glasses before heists made them a little more of a hassle than she would have liked. 

Michael missed Jack. He wanted to thank her and Geoff for everything they had done for him and Gavin and Jeremy. He wanted to apologize for not doing more to protect their family. He was terrified that he may never get the chance now. 

The door to the freezer slowly ground open and Michael flinched, looking up and trying to catch a glimpse of the new intruder. He figured it would be another goon dressed in red and black coming in to use him as their personal punching bag. The man who entered, however, was twice as intimidating. He was dark and hulking, dressed in leathers with a pale scar on his face. He had a black bag slung over his shoulder, smaller than a bread box but large enough to fit a gun or a needle or any other insidious device. If whoever was holding Michael captive planned to finish the job at some point or another, Michael expected his executioner would look like this. 

The door swung closed behind the man with a clang that had a certain air of finality to it. Michael stood, pressing himself into the corner of the metal room, bracing himself for a fight. If he was going down, he was going down swinging. The figure moved closer and Michael waited until the last possible moment before darting around the man and sprinting to the door. He wrapped both hands around the metallic lever, yanking back with all his might, trying to force the door open. The barrier didn’t budge a single inch. 

“It doesn’t open from this side,” the man said from behind Michael. “There’s someone on the other side waiting to let me out.”

Michael turned and saw the man barely moved, only pivoting a bit to follow Michael’s movements with his eyes. 

The tears came, hot and fat rolling down Michael’s cheeks. “Please,” the lad whimpered. “Please don’t kill me. I’m not ready. I - I want to see them again.” 

“I’m not -” the man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Sit down, kid. I’m not going to hurt you.” 

When Michael didn’t move, the man approached freezing in his tracks when the kid flinched away in fear. The man sighed again and kneeled on the metal floor, producing a plastic water bottle and a silver thermos from his small black bag. He held them out to Michael, waiting for him to approach according to his own volition. 

“What is that,” Michael asked, slowly coming closer to the man. 

“Water and soup.”

“Why?” 

“Because it’s been about sixteen hours since you got here and I don’t need you keeling over from hunger or dehydration.” The man shook the items, the liquids sloshing around inside. “I’d hurry if I were you. The water might freeze in this temperature.”

Michael took the items cautiously before retreating to one end of the freezer. The man stood but, rather than leaving, he moved to the opposite wall and leaned against it, eyes on Michael. 

Michael couldn’t contain the sneer he felt building up in the back of his throat. “Are you just going to stand there and watch me eat?” 

“I’m not exactly supposed to be feeding you so I’d rather just collect the thermos and bottle when you’re done.”

Michael scoffed before uncapping the water bottle to take a deep gulp. He held the bottle to his lips for a few moments before looking back up at the man. 

“Are they okay?”

“What are you -” the man began before realization set in. “Do you mean Free and Dooley?” Michael nodded. “They’re... safe. And in better condition than you.”

The man pushed himself off the wall and approached Michael cautiously. He kneeled in front of the lad and took the water bottle from his hands. He produced a handkerchief from the inside of his pocket and used some water to dampen it before gently rubbing away the dried blood produced from Michael’s split lip and bloodied nose. Michael let him, too tired to resist and not hating the acts of kindness this man was offering.

“Am I going to die here?”

“You won’t freeze to death. It’s not cold enough in here.”

“Am I going to die in some other way, though?”

The man paused, a new steely look sliding into place behind his gray eyes. “Not if I can help it.”


	35. Anxiety

“So we’re just sitting around here while the lads are missing?” Ryan felt his face heat up with a mixture of fury and shame. Sarah, Jarren, and Steffie had all reentered the cabin part way through Barbara’s explanation.

“Ryan, listen -” Sarah began. 

“Why would I  _ listen _ to you? I barely even know you!”

“Ryan,” Barbara spoke again, trying to calm to fuming teen. “It’s going to be okay. We’re just here temporarily. We’ll return to the city when this all blows over. Gavin, Michael, and Jeremy are going to make it out okay.”

“You don’t know that, Barbara!” Ryan buried his head in his hands. “I should be out there helping Geoff and Jack, not just sitting here with my thumb up my ass, preparing myself for the worst.”

The lack of someone saying “that’s a dollar” weighed on Ryan. 

“Can I at least get a laptop or something so I can work on tracing them down.”

“We’re all supposed to be lying low, Ryan,” The woman with blue hair - Barbara had said her name was Steffie - spoke up. “You all are at risk. Even if it was just you here, we don’t want to chance it.” 

“But -”

“There are so many more people than just you working on this, Ryan,” Steffie soothed. “RT is pooling all its resources. It’s not up to you to find the lads.”

“It’s not -” Ryan stopped mid-sentence, realizing he wouldn’t get through to these people. “Can I at least talk to Geoff and Jack?”

“Eventually,” Jarren murmured. “Just not right now. We want to take every precaution we can to keep you all safe.”

“But,” Steffie cut in. She walked to the kitchen and produced a medium-sized black box from the top of the fridge. “Jack did want me to give you this when you woke up.”

~

_ Happy Anniversary, Ryan! We can hardly believe it’s been a whole year since you came to us. Our time with you has been amazing and we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Here’s to the first 365 days of a million.  _

The box lay open on Ryan’s lap and he had read the note at least three times by now. Slotted into cloth sheaths embedded in the box were five throwing knives. The designs were all unique in some way or another and it was pretty easy to figure out who created each color composition. 

Michael’s knife was simple. A black blade with a blood red leather grip. Jeremy’s was, of course, dark purple with bright orange fabric wrapped around the base. Gavin’s was pretty cool. Its blade appeared to be a holographic rainbow pattern with a soft, light gray grip. Jack’s was a basic silver blade but the grip was multi-colored fading from a vibrant red to a deep blue and then an earthy green. Geoff’s stuck out the most to Ryan. The blade of the throwing knife appeared to made of gold while the hilt looked blacker than black. A little flashy but simplistic at the same time.

“So...” a voice came from the doorway. Ryan has gone back to the room he woke up in and now - as he looked up - he could see Trevor leaning against the door frame.

“So,” Ryan repeated. 

“You like, kill people.”

“Not really. It’s... complicated.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you lived this ‘complicated’ life?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking your girlfriend why she didn’t tell you about her life?”

“I already did. I want to hear it from you.” Trevor came and sat next to Ryan, pressing his back against the wall and extending his legs across the mattress. He eyed the knives with a neutral expression.

Ryan shrugged. “Because it wasn’t any of your business? Because I couldn’t risk you being a mole of sorts? Because I didn’t want to get my civilian friends involved?” Ryan looked up to meet Trevor’s eyes before casting them down again. “Although I see it’s too late for that now.”

Trevor bumped shoulders with Ryan in order to try and capture his attention. “Hey, at least your response was better than Barbara’s. She said she didn’t tell me because she thought I wouldn’t be able to  _ handle it _ .”

Ryan snorted. “Feels bad.”

“Real bad.”

Ryan leaned back, appreciating Trevor’s attempts to take his mind off things. “So, when this all blows over, what will my role be?” Trevor asked.

“You’re role?”

“Yeah. Like will I be working with you guys now? Will I be ‘the driver’? Or ‘the informant’? Oh! Or how about ‘the assassin’? Get in, get out before the bodies even hit the floor.”

“How about ‘the bait’.”

Trevor snorted. “Fuck off, asshole.”

* * *

Jack sat on the edge of the bed in her’s and Geoff’s temporary room at HQ. She was in the middle of drying her hair when another wave of emotion rolled over her. She fell back on the mattress and let out a distressed sigh. Jack turned her head to glance at the time displayed on the alarm clock. 9:00 pm. The lads had been missing for nearly 30 hours now and a new lead had yet to be uncovered. Just a bunch of data analysis and fact-checking, confirming what they already knew. No one was  _ moving _ and that was Jack’s real problem. She was just so God damn tired of waiting. 

Burnie ordered her and Geoff to get some rest. That hypocritical bastard was probably going to only get three or so hours of sleep himself before continuing his own research. That was one bit of comfort, at least - the fact everyone else at RT was working just as hard as she and Geoff were to find the lads. She wasn’t alone. Even so, Jack could  _ feel  _ every moment of the passing time. 

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of water hitting ceramic in the bathroom. Geoff must have been getting in the shower. She closed her eyes, listening to the ambiance. Giving in to her exhaustion, she eventually slipped into a restless sleep. 

~

Jack woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating. She blinked blearily, before sitting up abruptly, not initially recognizing her unfamiliar surroundings. Eventually, her racing heart slowed. 

Her phone continued to buzz on the bedside table and Jack picked it up, checking the caller ID. She glared at the unknown number before answering. 

“Who is this?”

“A friend,” A deep, steady voice responded.

“Elaborate.”

“I want to help get the kids back to you.”

Jack froze, suspicion blending together with hope. “I asked you once and I’ll ask you again; who are you?”

“I go by Locus. I work alongside Felix. Before you say anything -” the man, Locus cut Jack off as if he could see her opening her mouth to vociferate, “I truly do want to help. Felix is bound to take this too far and I don’t get off on killing kids.”

“I don’t -”

“I also am coming with a warning. So hear me out, okay?”

Jack scrubbed her hand over her face, thinking through her next steps carefully. Finally, she reluctantly asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Exactly as I say.”

* * *

Geoff was roughly shaken awake by a frazzled looking Jack.

“What’s wrong?” Geoff sat up, instantly on high alert. 

“We need to call Sarah. Ryan’s in danger.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been 376 days since I published the first chapter of Welcome Aboard. I just wanted to thank you all for supporting me and encouraging me to keep writing despite my infrequency. Happy anniversary all :")

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: [SeaMonkeysInSpace](https://seamonkeysinspace.tumblr.com/) (Open for prompt submissions.)  
> [Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/1280476257/playlist/0Xba8JC4xJMCLAoJGBz5x6?si=zq4OsswQT_yNp3Pi4H67zw)  
> 


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